The Fugitives
by acosta perez jose ramiro
Summary: Walker's most dangerous prisoners are on the loose, and it's up to Danny and company to stop them.
1. Breaking Out

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Hi, and welcome back! (Alright, all of you who are single and pretty girls please form a line.) Tucker, can you please keep your mind off females for a single minute, or at least, keep it for yourself? (Let's see… I'm a male teenager… so the answer is surely 'No'.) I should have known; can you please say the disclaimer?

(Yes I do; DISCLAIMER: Ramiro doesn't own Danny Phantom or any related character, all of us copyrighted by Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. We'll also have some characters 'borrowed' from other series, who aren't owned by him as well, and a few OC.)

Thanks, Tuck. As he said, we'll have some OC in this fic, one of them influenced by a Mexican movie based in a real-life person. (A real-life bandit, actually; Mexico has its own collection of colorful legendary criminals, just like our Al Capone, Jesse James, and Bonnie and Clyde in USA.) You're right, Tucker; now that I think about it, you could had been a Mexican criminal, 'The Santa Julia's Tiger'. (Who was him?) A Robin Hood-like guy who had lots of female accomplices, all of them his lovers. (Really? Now, that's someone to admire!) Think again; he got caught when he got a serious stomachache and had to make an 'emergency stop' during a getaway, and the police found him at a farm's field, sitting and his pants down. (You mean… EWW! That's disgusting!)

One last note; this story is set after the events of another of mine, "Kids' Game". Guess that's enough, so… on with the show!

**The Fugitives.**

**A _Danny Phantom_ story by Acosta Pérez José Ramiro**

**-Breaking Out.**

"SIR! SIR!"

"What's going on, Bullet?" Walker asked his second-in-command, more than slightly annoyed about his sudden entrance at the warden's office.

"It's HIM, sir! He escaped again!"

"WHAT?" Walker roared in shock and anger. "It can't be possible! He hadn't escaped in over a year!"

"Maybe he was waiting for the right chance to do it, sir." Bullet commented, and then took a deep breath to encourage himself, "Worst of all, he helped some of the other criminals at the high security ward to escape as well; he surely did it yesterday night during the shift's change."

"He didn't escape with… Prisoner X-13, right?" Walker asked in his usual authoritarian tone, yet showing a little bit of fear.

"No, sir… he did it with Prisoners X-09 to 11."

Walker showed a slight relief, but returned to his usual frown a moment later. The 'X' prisoners were those too aggressive to be with the regular population, or so tricky or dangerous they needed the most security. When Wulf was his captive, Walker kept him as Prisoner X-05, because of his ability to create portals by his own, and after Danny escaped he gave orders to build a new cell for him at the 'X' block on the event of catching him again, because he wasn't risking another riot and massive getaway like last time.

"What I don't get is why he escaped with company. He usually does it alone." Bullet commented.

"Simple; to separate and move on their own once outside; he knows we'll need to focus on those fugitives as well, therefore can't use our whole power on just finding him." Walker said as walking out from his office, Bullet next to him. "Organize two search parties, one to look through The Ghost Zone and another focusing on the area around The Portal."

Bullet nodded and left to fulfill his orders while Walker went to the 'X' block and look at the now empty cells. The warden gave a large hateful look inside the now empty Prisoner X-12's cell.

"I thought I finally had you here for good." Walker growled. "I swear, next time will be the last one."

At Fenton Works, four figures exited the Fenton Portal, despite the new and improved lock Jack and Maddie installed just a few days ago. One of the fugitive specters motioned the others to stop.

"Now, go and have fun, but remember, you guys owe me one, so stay around in case I need a favor."

The other three specters (a huge, muscular one; another with large wings; and a pretty big and sparking one) nodded and left in a hurry, while the remaining ghost stayed at the basement for a moment, getting a sly smile.

"Now, back to work."

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"BEWARE! I'm The Box Ghost, the all-mighty master of all things cubic and square. Beware my cardboard-made fury… YEAAARRRGH!"

The chubby ghost's speech was cut by the powerful sucking force of The Fenton Thermos, currently held by Tucker Foley, who was leaning at a wall outside Amity Museum's restrooms, waiting for his best friend.

"My ghost sense detected something." Danny, who exited the restroom a moment later, ready to transform, said to his grinning friend.

"Don't sweat, Danny; it was just The Box Ghost. I got him in a moment." Tucker said proudly. Danny sighed in relief; if acting fast, any human using a Fenton Thermos was more than able to catch that particular specter.

"Hey, guys, hurry up." Sam Manson appeared from next corridor, calling her friends. "You shouldn't have taken so many sodas before coming."

"I got thirsty." Danny shrugged as he and Tucker walked next to their friend, the geek placing the thermos inside his backpack, "I had to capture The Lunch Lady right before breakfast, and she attacked me with so much jerky beef I had to get rid of the taste somehow."

The trio joined the rest of their class; as every couple of months, the school organized a guided visit to the museum to check up the new exhibits and artifacts, saving the teachers from teaching something themselves and giving the alumni the chance to get out of school for a few hours. As usual, Danny and company kept themselves at the end of the line, so they could sneak away if a ghost appeared, while Dash, Paulina and the rest of the popular crew stayed at the middle, so the teachers and guides couldn't notice them slacking and chatting nonsense.

"My dad is dropping a gala party this weekend," Paulina snobbishly commented to Star, "He just bought a bunch of ancient furniture and exotic artifacts, and invited several friends to see them."

"I hope he had bought a guillotine." Sam commented to Danny and Tucker, who chuckled slightly. Even if Danny still couldn't help but feel some attraction for Paulina, and Tucker couldn't help to feel some attraction for… any female his age, both boys no longer crushed on her, finally realizing how shallow and mean she really was.

Valerie, who was among the first students in the line, couldn't hear Sam, but was getting a lot of Paulina's blabbing. The huntress rolled her eyes yet tried her best to concentrate on everything the guide was telling the group; on regular circumstances, she could have done as Danny and his friends and keep herself at the end of the line, for the same reasons, but she knew that, in order of her dad not suspecting she still was a full-time ghost huntress, the girl had to improve her notes, therefore paying attention during this visit was pretty important for Val.

On the meantime, a police captain, on his early thirties, well built, slightly tanned and dark haired, appeared at the museum's entrance, and immediately directed to one of the place's guards.

"Good morning, sir." The guard made a military salute to the nodding captain.

"Rest, my friend; do you know where I can find the museum's security chief?" The captain asked.

"I can call him… is something wrong?"

"I don't want to alarm the civilians, but it seems there's a criminal hiding inside the museum." The captain said to the guard, who gasped slightly. "I need to talk to your superior so we can evacuate this place as calm and fast as possible." The guard nodded and then used his walkie-talkie to communicate with the security chief.

A few minutes later, everyone at the museum heard the manager's voice at the speakers, asking the people to leave orderly because of out-of-control circumstances. The guards and guides showed the people the closest exits, and almost everyone obeyed.

"What's going on, Danny?" Sam asked her friend when he stopped on his tracks.

"My ghost sense," Danny whispered to both her and Tucker, "Guess this might be the reason the museum is being evacuated."

The ghost hunting trio hide behind an ancient jar so nobody could notice their absence when the group left through an emergency exit; Valerie, since she was among the first ones to exit, wasn't alerted by her ghost alarm.

"See any security cameras?" Tucker asked as he and his friends finally left the jar's security to get a look around.

"No; this part of the museum doesn't have many rare artifacts, so the security is minimal here." Sam said after confirming no cameras were near them.

"Then… I'm Going Ghost!" Danny exclaimed, and, a split second later, the energy rings appeared from his waist and transformed him into his Phantom persona.

Meanwhile, the mysterious captain had ordered the guards to keep an eye outside the building while he looked for the criminal inside. However, the moment he became alone, the man got a large white sack out of nowhere, and his skin turned totally pale, as his eyes (who were a normal blue color) got bright glowing green pupils.

The ghost grabbed a medium sized gold-framed mirror from the Roman exhibit, and placed it inside the sack. Then, after turning intangible, he phased through the wall, finding himself at the Egyptian exhibit; after a fast search, found another mirror about the same size, but with a wooden frame, that had several snakes and birds carved on it. The ghost turned solid for a moment to repeat the stealing operation.

The ghost entered the Greek exhibition, and, again, found a mirror in there. However, this time he didn't grab it.

"It's too small; there's no use on getting this." The ghost, frowning, said to himself.

"You need it for your bedroom?" The ghost turned when hearing Danny Phantom, who was hovering a few feet behind him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't police officers supposed to stop this kind of thing from happening? If you are using a style, you have to follow it right."

"Well, I have my own style, kid… one that says it's not easy to catch me." The ghost smirked and, in a lightning move, took a gun out from his jacket; it looked a lot like an old Colt .45, but had a characteristic ghostly aura around it.

Danny, by instinct, turned intangible to avoid the shot.

BANG!

"Ungh!" Danny groaned and fell to the floor, holding his right shoulder in pain.

"Ghost bullets, kid; even if you survive, they kick like a mule." The ghost grinned evilly as aiming again at Danny.

PTANG!

PTANG!

PTANG!

PTANG!

This time, Danny protected himself with a ghost shield that deflected the bullets, hitting the walls and the rests of a Greek column instead. The young halfa rolled at the floor, still using his shield to protect from a new series of shots, and, after covering behind a Greek battle cart, replied with a few shots of his own.

The captain jumped aside to avoid Danny's blasts, using a soldier's statue for coverage. He and the boy exchanged several shots, with none of them hitting, until Danny got an idea. He placed his left hand at the floor, and sent a freezing wave through it; as a result, everything in contact with the floor got a thick layer of ice around it, including the captain's legs.

The captain shot at one of his trapped legs, breaking the ice, but, when he was about to do the same with the other one, Danny shot a ghost ray against his hand, sending the pistol several feet away. The ghost groaned in annoyance and pain, and, when trying to break the ice by his own strength, got surprised by a dashing punch at the kisser that sent him against the closest wall, making him to drop the sack.

"Not bad, kid, but you'll need something better to stop me." The captain said as slowly standing up, getting a battle stance.

"Something like this?"

The ghost looked at his right, spotting Tucker, with Sam next to him, aiming at him with the Thermos.

"YEEAAARGH!"

"Gotcha!" Tucker smiled in triumph as closing the thermos; Sam, doing her best to keep balance on the frozen floor, walked next to Danny and gasped when noticing his injured shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked, concerned, as checking the wound. As every time Danny got severely hurt in ghost mode, it had some green ectoplasm dropping out of it.

"Yes, except for this burning sensation." Danny confessed; he then introduced two fingers inside the wound, and, groaning in pain, handled to find and retire the projectile, a bright silver-colored bullet. "And, if you're wondering, yes, this hurts as much as it seems in movies."

"Don't move your arm. Even with your powers, that might take a while to heal." Sam pointed while Tucker got a closer look of both the wound and the bullet, not noticing how the Thermos, now inside his backpack, was shattering slightly, until…

BOOM!

The trio got sent backwards because of the explosion at Tucker's backpack. The geek rubbed his back in pain, obviously resenting the hit, while Danny and Sam shook their heads to recover from the impact.

"BEWARE! A simple cylindrical container can't hold my square-faced glory. I'm The Box Ghost…"

"Whatever, just scram, can you, please?" The captain softly glared at The Box Ghost, which was enough cue for him to leave as fast as possible.

"How did you escape?" Danny got a surprised expression as the captain smirked at him and moved next to an ancient weapons' exhibitor.

"That's what I do, kid; there's the reason why, even when alive, I got known as Captain Phantasm." The specter grabbed a long Greek spear, and then, after taking a fast aiming, threw it against Sam.

"NO!" Danny jumped next to a stunned Sam as the spear headed against her head. Danny grabbed her ankle at the last moment, turning her intangible, so the weapon phased through the girl without hurting her.

"Too close for my liking." Sam sighed as moving away from the spear so Danny could turn her back to solid. The Captain took advantage of Danny's distraction, and grabbed both his sack and pistol, phasing through the ceiling a moment later.

"I'll get him!" Danny growled, really furious about the ghost hurting Tucker and almost killing Sam, and, ignoring his wound, phased through the ceiling as well to chase him, forgetting who was on the outside among the other students.

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"Let's see… everyone's here?" Lancer asked the group, all of them about to enter the school bus.

"Fenton, Manson and Foley aren't, Mister Lancer." Dash pointed, grinning; he just couldn't ignore a chance to make them get detention or, at least, a little lecture from Lancer.

"And Grey isn't here too." Paulina added because of feelings similar to Dash's.

"Well, where might they… '_The Ghost of Canterville'_!" Lancer exclaimed when The Captain flew just a few feet over his bald head when leaving the museum. The teenagers gasped in surprise, and then screamed in excitement when Phantom emerged from the museum as well, chasing the other ghost.

Despite his injured shoulder, Phantom proved to be a faster flyer than Phantasm, placing in front of him in a few moments.

"Well, a stubborn young man, aren't you?" The Captain growled as aiming at Danny again, while the halfa pointed at him with his glowing left fist.

"Yes, and I have some issues concerning ghosts who try impaling my friends!" Danny snapped at him, both combatants getting hateful glares.

"Oh, boy, and I thought this would be just another boring field trip!" Dash exclaimed as he and the other teens looked at the ghosts in awe.

"Yes, this can't get more exciting!" Kwan added, and, in a perfect cue…

"SURRENDER, GHOSTS!"

Both Danny and The Captain had to abandon their battle stances to avoid getting shot by The Red Huntress; when they started fighting inside the museum, their ectoplasmic activity increased, therefore Valerie's alarm could detect them, so she moved aside the rest of the group and hide behind the bus to get his battle suit on.

The Captain started shooting back at Valerie, who made a fast dive to avoid the attack, but the ghost handled to hit the back of her sled, making her to lose balance for a moment. He was about to finish her when Danny surprised him with a fast kick; the ghost was sent several feet back, and, realizing he couldn't fight at whole power while holding his loot, decided to escape, flying at top speed while shooting back at Danny and Valerie.

Danny used his shield to protect from the bullets while Valerie, now fully recovered, dodged them. She then realized Danny was injured, and got a slight smirk; a wounded Phantom is an easier to catch one.

"This time I'll get you, ghost!" Valerie dashed against Danny, who gulped and dived to avoid a shot. Injured as he was, Danny wasn't nearly as maneuverable as usual, so it was just a manner of time before the huntress could get him, so, instead of flying away, he returned to the museum, phasing through the walls. Valerie was about to fly at a door to chase him on the inside when Tucker and Sam emerged from it; Val realized she wouldn't be able to capture Phantom with them on her way, and, reluctantly, decided to let him go and go back to her regular self.

"Miss Manson, Mister Foley, what happened in there?" Lancer asked his students, noticing Tucker's charred backpack.

"We were checking an exhibit when we were told to leave, Mister Lancer," Sam made a fast and believable lie, "and we found that police-looking ghost on our way out. We tried to escape, but he hurt Tucker. Danny distracted him so we could escape, and then Phantom appeared and scared the other ghost away."

"And where's Mister Fenton?" Lancer asked, surprised; Danny, despite his parents being ghost hunters, wasn't known for facing specters on his own. Then again, the teacher knew how close the trio was, so he risking his life to save them wasn't a weird idea after all.

"I'm here." Danny finally emerged from the museum, still holding his shoulder; luckily, as most of the times he got hurt as a ghost, the wound got partially healed when turning back to human, therefore it wasn't as painful as just a few moments ago.

Lancer helped Danny sit at the sidewalk alongside Tucker, who got helped by Sam. Now fully believing Sam's story, the teacher called for help; one of the guards told him to stay with the teens while one of his partners left to find the museum's nurse so she could attend them while a doctor arrived.

"Fentonio was fighting a ghost? Yeah, right; he surely was cowering just like…"

"You would do it, right, Dash?" The jock was cut by Valerie, who seemed to appear out from nowhere. The blonde was about to reply, but thought better before getting into an argument with a girl who could take him down in a pretty humiliating way, so kept quiet as she approached Danny.

"Are you two okay?" Val, concerned, asked Danny, and gave a fast look at Tucker. Even if she had no romantic feelings for the techno geek, Valerie admitted he was a lot more likable than any guy from the A-list crew, except Star (who was the only one who was still friendly with her), and wished him no harm.

Danny nodded, and gave Valerie a little smile. Tucker did it as well, happy for getting some sort of sympathy from a girl aside Sam for once, but the Goth couldn't help but sigh in frustration; it was a major irony that the girl dedicated to try turning Danny into spectral Swiss cheese when him being Phantom was the same one who couldn't resist the idea of his human self getting injured.

At a distance, sitting on top of a building, Captain Phantasm opened the sack, and checked his loot. Luckily, it wasn't damaged during the fight, but now he realized about how hard it was to accomplish his plan; he had heard about the halfa, and now he had faced him, the ghost discovered how powerful Danny really was, plus having human help, therefore he was a major obstacle. Also, the huntress, a menace he hadn't considered until now, seemed to be highly skilled; she had to, since handled avoiding several of The Captain's attacks. Plus, he wouldn't be able to sneak inside the museum so easily again, with all the investigators and cops that were sure to be there on the next days to investigate about the robbery.

The specter rubbed his chin in thought, and then got back his evil grin.

"Guess I'll need to use those favors sooner than I thought."


	2. Ready to Rumble

**- Ready To Rumble.**

"Danny, Tucker and Sam are here."

"Thanks, Mom." Danny, on his pajamas, sat at his bed, rubbing his eyes. Maddie left his room as Sam and Tucker entered.

"Good news, man; Lancer and the other teachers got compassionate on you, and spared you from homework today." Tucker commented as getting a chair and sitting next to the bed while Sam sat aside Danny.

"That's cool; after all the tests my parents performed on me today, I'm not in the mood to do anything. I was afraid they would discover my secret by accident."

"And how are you feeling?" Sam asked. Danny uncovered his shoulder, showing a little bandage on it.

"Much better; it doesn't really hurt right now, but it seems I did well when removing the bullet before turning human." Danny commented as covering back his shoulder, "My parents analyzed the bullet, and it seems that, besides being able to hurt ghosts, its molecular composition is quite similar to a neurotoxin's one; if hitting a human, even if not touching anything vital, those bullets might kill him or her, or, in the best case, produce a coma-like state for some time."

"Ouch." Sam and Tucker chorused with their eyes wide-open.

"I thought the same; luckily, my powers healed me partially when changing back to normal, so my parents think the bullet simply scratched me, and that explains why I'm not unconscious or worse." Danny sighed; of course he had faced anti-ghost weaponry in the past, but this one made him feel particularly vulnerable.

"That's good to hear, little bro." Jazz entered the room at that moment, holding some papers. "I did some research on your ghostly thief, and think I have a few answers here."

"Like why he could escape the Thermos?" Danny gave his sister full attention.

"And why he is a police officer and a burglar at the same time?" Sam added.

"Maybe he was a corrupt cop." Tucker shrugged.

"Actually, he's not… I mean, he wasn't a real cop." Jazz explained as giving a copy of her research to each of the trio, "I found a few articles about this Captain Phantasm; his real name was Sergio Goyri, of Latin American-Rumanian heritage, and he was a major thief during the fifties and sixties. His modus operandi consisted on him disguising as a police captain to surprise his victims, who allowed him to approach and even enter their homes without suspecting a thing, and check this; his favorite weapons were Colt .45 pistols."

"Okay, that explains why he was nicknamed 'Captain', but why the 'Phantasm' part?" Tucker asked, not reading his copy since he was, as Danny, paying full attention to the red haired girl, who now was sitting at another chair.

"Well, he got caught eventually, but handled to escape shortly after… and did it more than once. He never changed his modus operandi, so the cops always managed to track him down and recapture the guy, but always escaped from any prison he was sent; he did it exactly seven times, and the only reason the man didn't do the eighth one is because he got executed by the jail's warden before fleeing again." Jazz concluded.

"That's why the Thermos couldn't contain him," Sam said in realization, "because his ghostly ability is precisely that; escaping!"

"That's going to be a major problem when facing him." Danny commented as getting a thoughtful expression, "But this doesn't explain why he only stole ancient mirrors; I mean, surely those are pretty expensive and all, but the museum has some jewelry and other artifacts."

"I've thinking about that as well," Jazz pointed, "but my research didn't reveal anything about him doing this in the past; he normally stole regular stuff, like money, jewels, and so."

"Guess I'll need to go patrol tonight." Danny sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Just remember to quit using your intangibility against him, and use the shield instead, okay?" Jazz reminded a nodding Danny the moment Jack knocked the bedroom's door.

"Danny, you got another visit."

"Cool; come in, Dad." Danny said as motioning his companions to hide the research's papers. A moment later, Jack opened the door, and allowed Valerie to pass.

"I'll be at the lab with your mother. Have fun but don't stay too long; Danny needs to rest." Jack directed to Val, Sam and Tucker, who simply nodded at him before closing the door.

"Hi, Val," Danny greeted the girl as he and Sam moved aside to allow her to sit at the bed as well.

"Hi; how are you feeling?" Valerie got a pretty concerned look; Sam noticed it, and got a slightly one as well; as much as Valerie hated Danny as a ghost, it was obvious she cared a lot about him as a human, and the Goth simply couldn't dislike anyone showing concern about Danny's welfare on any of his identities.

"Better, thanks, but I'm lucky the bullet just scratched me. According to my parents, it would be very hurtful for a ghost, but for a human is even more dangerous than a regular one." Danny commented at Valerie, who was especially attentive; as the other teens correctly guessed, this was Danny's way to prevent Valerie in case of her facing Captain Phantasm before him sending the specter back to The Ghost Zone.

"Yeah, you were lucky; ghosts can do a lot of damage." Valerie's concerned face switched momentarily to her scowling one.

"Don't need to tell us; ghost hunting family, remember? But, ironically, it was another ghost who saved him." Jazz pointed, noticing Val's scowl and deciding to make her own contribution to eliminate, or, at least, reduce the girl's hate for Phantom.

"Danny… about that… Phantom really saved you?" Valerie asked him, with a mixture of doubt and concern.

"He took a bullet for me." Danny commented without any doubt; this was easy since, technically, it was true. Sam and Tucker nodded at Valerie with their most honest faces, adding more credibility to his statement.

"Wow; that's curious, isn't it?" Valerie looked down for a moment, suddenly remembering the ghost boy seemed to be wounded when fighting the other specter. The rest of the teens exchanged a fast glance, and dropped the topic, talking about various stuff; Val visibly relaxed and joined the chatting, yet it was obvious the girl was still thinking about Danny's words.

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Much later, at night, the manager of "Ancient R Us", Amity's main antiques shop, closed the business, and started doing some paperwork before going home, not noticing the ghost phasing through his office's door.

"Working late?"

The man looked up, and gasped in fear when noticing a grinning Captain Phantasm aiming at his face with his pistol.

"W-what do you want?"

"I need certain information; basically, a list of any ancient mirror you have sold, or at this store right now. I need some specifications, like size, age, and origin. You can do that, right?" The ghost said calmly as moving closer to the sweating man.

"Y-yes, of course, sir, I can d-do it." The manager managed to reply, and, slowly, taped some commands on his computer's keyboard. After a few minutes, he printed a list and handled the papers to the ghost. Captain took the list, and checked it; after a minute or so, he got a mischievous smile.

"What a good service! Thanks a lot, kind sir; allow me to pay you." The ghost aimed at the man's right leg.

BANG!

The manager hardly reacted at the shot before falling to the floor unconscious.

"You'll not die; with some luck, you're waking up in a few days, maybe." The ghost chuckled as leaving the office, right after shooting the computer as well to cover his tracks. The specter then took out his sack, and started moving around the store, stopping next to a particular object; as the list stated, the place recently received a silver-framed mirror with dragon carvings on it.

"Ming dynasty; I'm having Chinese tonight." Phantasm grinned; the mirror was old enough and the right size. He placed it inside his sack, and phased through the ceiling.

And got a chilling surprise.

"What the…?" Captain hardly could talk before being entirely covered in thick ice, courtesy of Danny's freezing beam.

"Next time you shoot, use a silencer." Danny glared at the captured ghost; since his enemy was robbing ancient mirrors, Jazz suggested him to keep an eye on antiques shops, and Danny started with the main one, proving to be a wise move.

"Jazz? Danny here," the halfa communicated with his sister via cell phone, without losing sight of the frozen ghost, "You're right, but maybe I came too late. Call 911 and tell them to send an ambulance; apparently our thief shot someone before I could capture him." Danny got a positive answer from Jazz, and hung off; even if his enemy was some sort of Houdini, Danny was ready to blast him the moment he escaped from the ice.

"BEWARE!"

"Oh, please," Danny sighed as turning back, "look, I can't lose time with your boxes today…"

WHAM!

Danny was sent the other side of the street, and, after hitting a wall, fell over a car. At the same time, his icy prison started glowing, and, a moment later, Captain Phantasm phased through it; normally, because of ectoplam's vulnerability to extreme temperatures, a freezing one could stop most ghosts for a while unless having ice powers him/herself, but Captain's power allowed him to escape in record time.

"Either The Box Ghost had been working out, or I'm in trouble." Danny said as standing up and rubbing his chin. He then noticed Captain Phantasm hovering over him, and a large muscular ghost next to him; he was a slightly blue one with a tough expression and a thick moustache, wearing a white tight shirt, brown old pants and boots, and red gauntlets.

"Yes, you're in trouble. I asked him to cover my back in case you or that huntress appeared again; Walker had him imprisoned because of several disturbances and fights all across The Ghost Zone… and needed half of his guards to catch him." Captain Phantasm said smugly as the other ghost cracked his knuckles and glared at Danny.

"I'm The Boxing Ghost… beware." The muscular specter growled, and then charged at Danny.

"Have fun, kid." The ghostly thief smirked and then dashed away, leaving Danny with the other fugitive.

Danny jumped aside to avoid a mighty punch that cracked the sidewalk. The Boxing Ghost tried to hit him again, but Danny covered with a shield; however, despite that protection, the ghost boy was sent several feet back.

"I've heard about your fighting skills, halfa. Let's prove them!" The ghost roared as his fists glowed with red energy. Danny's shield got shattered by next punch, and hardly could avoid being hit when dropping it.

"My turn, Foreman!" Danny avoided a new hit, and replied with a hard one of his own at the ghost's face, but barely made him blink.

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" The Boxing Ghost seemed to get encouraged by Danny's counterattack because his own punches increased its speed. Danny could block a couple of them, but eventually received a hard one at his abdomen. The Boxing Ghost then hit his face, stunning Phantom, and was about to do it again when the boy handled to kick his legs, sending him over his back.

Danny shook his head to clear it as flying away from the fallen ghost, who quickly rolled over the pavement to stand up. Danny then started shooting ecto-blasts at his enemy, who got a defensive position and did his best to block them; as when he attacked Phantom, the ghost blocked several shots with his fists, but received a few hard ones at his abdomen and face, sending him back several yards.

"Nice hitting, boy; want to see mine?" The Boxing Ghost's fists glowed more intensely, and then threw several punches at Danny, forming small red energy balls flying against the boy. Danny had to stop them shooting a fast series of ghostly rays, but one ball passed over his defense and hit him, almost knocking Phantom out.

The Boxing Ghost took advantage of the boy's state, and hit the ground with both fists, sending a large energy line through it; when the line reached the exact spot under Danny's hovering body, it jumped as a massive red ball, hitting the boy and sending him down.

"Talking about a low blow…" Danny rubbed his head and closed his eyes as The Boxing Ghost slowly approached him, a large grin on his face.

"You gave me a good sparring, boy; too bad you only lasted one round." The large specter raised his fists, ready to smash Danny with a double punch.

"I hadn't heard the bell." Danny looked up at the ghost the moment he sent his fists against him. Danny reacted by grabbing his wrists, stopping the attack.

"Ha! Impressive, but your strength is no match for mine!"

Danny gritted his teeth at the effort as his enemy increased the pressure over him to overwhelm the boy, but the halfa resisted enough to focus his icy powers on his grip. A few moments later, Danny released his prey, and The Boxing Ghost's arms were covered in thick ice.

"This will not stop me!" The Boxing Ghost roared, and then hit his arms together to smash the ice, but used more strength than needed.

"AARGH!" The large specter shook his arms in pain while Danny focused his whole power on a massive blast.

"Thanks for doing that; it makes easier for me to do this!"

**MEGABLAST!**

The Boxing Ghost received the full impact, and got knocked out. Danny sighed in relief, and then grabbed his Thermos (that he carried strapped to his back), aiming it at the unconscious ghost.

"Back to the gym with you, Balboa," The boy grinned as sucking the ghost inside the Thermos. His good mood dissipated immediately when remembering Captain Phantasm had handled to escape again.

Danny turned invisible and intangible to get inside the antiques shop; he then found the unconscious manager, and ran at his side to check him up, still invisible to avoid any misunderstanding in case the paramedics Jazz called or Valerie suddenly appeared at the scene. The man was out cold, and didn't react when Danny touched and then slapped him softly; he was in a coma.

Danny got a sad look, and then an angry one when looking at the man's wounded leg. He stayed with him until hearing the approaching ambulance's siren, and then left, phasing through the ground.

At a distance, Captain Phantasm looked at the ambulance as well. He was far enough to avoid being spotted, but decided to turn invisible, just in case. He saw the whole fight between the halfa and The Boxing Ghost, and was impressed, to say the least; the boy handled to defeat one of the strongest and toughest specters ever.

"Not good… not good, definitely," the ghost said to himself, "if this boy keeps getting better, he might actually find a way to capture me… or worse, eliminate me if losing his patience. Well, at least I still have allies to cover me."

The ghost grinned, and phased through the street's pavement. He started flying through the sewers, and stopped when hearing munching sounds; he then phased through the closest wall, spotting a large creature hidden at the shadows, eating what seemed to be a huge rat.

"Don't eat that much, my friend; I'll need your help tomorrow, and you don't want to ruin your appetite, right?"

The Captain Phantasm got a simple yet scary shriek in response.


	3. The Enemy At Home

**-The Enemy At Home.**

"You know, bringing a ghost to school, even if still locked inside a Thermos, might qualify as a major bad idea." Tucker commented Danny as the boys and Sam walked through Casper High's corridors.

"I know, but couldn't drop him at the portal last night." Danny explained. "I lost a lot of time trying to find our burglar cop, and, when returning home, my parents were already at the lab analyzing that bullet the doctors removed from the manager, and did it the whole night… actually, they hadn't stopped."

"The Police know already that Captain Phantasm is robbing ancient mirrors?" Sam asked before stopping at her locker to get a book.

"No; our fight at the museum damaged several artifacts, so they're yet to notice if anything is missed aside the mirrors, and with the shop's computer destroyed, there's no way to know what kind of information he got." Danny sighed.

"So, what's the plan?" Tucker asked as the trio headed to their classroom.

"Guess I'll need to go to The Ghost Zone today for a field research. Our friend gave me a clue last night; he said The Boxing Ghost used to be Walker's prisoner, and we know Captain Phantasm had been a burglar all his life and after-life, so maybe he was a guest at Walker's jail as well."

"You're not going to visit Walker, right?" Sam arched an eyebrow at Danny. Even if not having particularly spectacular powers, Walker had an army of guards and lots of weaponry at his disposition, and therefore was one of the most dangerous specters at The Ghost Zone.

"Only as a last option," Danny replied, "I might better try getting answers from other ghosts who had been his prisoners; maybe one of them knows a thing or two about Captain Phantasm, and why he is stealing mirrors."

The trio entered the classroom and sat at their places. Danny gave a last look at his backpack right before Lancer entered; as Tucker pointed, even if The Boxing Ghost lacked Captain's power to escape, Danny wasn't eager to fight another round against him if the Thermos got opened by accident.

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Much later that same day...

"Valerie, I'm going work."

"Okay, Dad; I'll be here doing my homework, and maybe later get out for some working out." Valerie told her father, sitting at her desk with a few notebooks over it.

"No ghost hunting, okay?" Damon pointed, half-joking, half-serious.

"Yes, Dad; no ghost hunting… unless by coincidence a ghost attacks the place I am." Valerie sighed and rolled her eyes while Damon sighed in relief; he still disapproved her daughter 'extra-curricular' activity, but, knowing Amity's well deserved fame as the most haunted place on Earth, the man eventually accepted it would be irresponsible and selfish from him to forbid the girl from using her skills and weaponry to protect herself and people around her in case of a spectral attack. As long as she wasn't sneaking out of home at night or willingly exposing to danger, Damon would accept Val's role as Amity's mysterious Red Huntress.

Damon kissed her daughter good-bye, and left; half hour later, Valerie's homework was done, and, since she had no work that day at Nasty Burger, decided to exercise that afternoon. Normally, when doing that, Val placed one of Danny Phantom's several pictures she had cut from the newspaper or downloaded from Internet; this fueled the girl's anger and made her work extra-hard; however, this time her hate had another target.

The ghost attack and robbery at the museum made the newspaper's front page, and, even if no picture of the spectral cop was available, there was a good sized photo of Danny, shot the moment he arrived at the hospital. Valerie felt both sad and raged every time she saw the picture, and used that motivation on her routine; after doing a few push-ups (in Valerie's case, three series of fifty push-ups is considered just 'a few') and some aerobics, the girl took a pair of boxing gloves from her closet, and a large black marker from her backpack. She then started drawing something at her punching bag; instead of a stylized 'D', her usual hitting bulls-eye (one that always got erased because of constant and hard impacts), she handled to draw a cop, but gave him a sinister face, that looked remotely as Captain Phantasm's.

"If I ever see you again, you're going down." Valerie's growled at her drawing, her gloves already on, and started hitting it.

The girl began with a simple raging series of punches that lasted about ten minutes; then, switched to a more complex routine, consisting on left-right combinations and various types of punch (jab, uppercut…) that lasted another ten minutes, and then finished with a series of alternative punching and kicking. When she was done, the drawing was almost totally erased; her attack had both a good aiming and power, therefore most of her hits fell directly on the ghost's image.

"Enough of this… now, a little running around the neighborhood and that's it." Valerie said to herself, panting and removing her gloves. The girl grabbed a towel to dry her face and neck, and, right before taking out her running shoes, a mischievous grin appeared on her face.

"Running, flying… there's no big difference."

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Danny finally handled to enter The Ghost Zone. He had to wait for a while because, when he got home, his parents were still working; Tucker and Sam gave him company, and even did their homework together, but eventually had to leave, so, the moment Jack and Maddie decided to call it a day and have some rest, Jazz was the only one who could monitor his journey from the lab. For some extra security, besides him and his sister wearing the Fenton Earphones, Danny decided to keep The Boxing Ghost inside the thermos until his return; releasing him at The Ghost Zone when Danny was in there as well was an invitation to disaster and blackened eyes.

"So, what ghost are you going to visit, Danny?" Jazz asked him through her earphone.

"I'm still thinking about it. Maybe The Box Ghost; he isn't exactly a friend, but the guy can't keep his mouth closed, so it's easy to interrogate."

"Yes, but, most of the time, the only thing he answers is 'Beware'."

"Good point." Danny chuckled slightly, and then stopped. "Hold it; I found another ghost… not exactly what I was looking for, but don't lose anything by asking."

At a distance, a nerdy black and white ghost, holding a bouquet, emerged from one of the zone's many doors, and slammed it in a hurry. He then leaned against the door, panting yet conserving a slight smile.

"Flowers, Sydney? There must be better places to get them than Undergrowth's lair."

Sydney Poindexter, Danny's nerdy enemy, glared at the halfa, hovering a few feet aside him.

"Yes, but he has the rarest and freshest ones. And it's not your business, you bully!"

"Oh, please!" Danny slapped his forehead in annoyance. "You still think I'm a bully?"

"Of course I do! First time I saw you, that poor guy Dash was your victim! I mean, you have so many powers, and use them to prank and torment a poor defenseless human?"

"Look, let's settle this, okay? Number one, Dash is not a defenseless victim; he is the school's main bully. And number two, yes, sometimes I prank him, but usually just in self-defense; he is the one who torments me!" Danny explained.

"Yeah, right; when I possessed your body, he was quite friendly with me."

"Because you used your ghostly powers to get him free sodas and made him other favors. Dash treats you nicely when you do things for him, but, the moment you stop doing it, or he gets bored, he drops you inside a locker."

"So… you don't bully him?" Sydney's glare softened, and got a doubtful expression.

"I'm almost totally powerless in my human form, Sydney. Do you think a guy like me would mess with someone as big as Dash by free will?"

"Guess no… sorry." Sydney sighed and gave Danny an ashamed look; the nerd used to be a bullies' magnet when alive, and as a ghost liked to protect other bullying victims, but it seemed he had made a major mistake with Phantom.

"No big deal; sometimes I need someone to remind me not using my powers for personal benefit." Danny shrugged.

"You're welcome… seems she was right about you."

"She?"

"Dora. She told me how you and your friends helped her with her brother some time ago, but I still refused to believe you could be a good guy." Sydney explained.

"Oh… those flowers are for her, uh?" Danny grinned as the ghostly nerd chuckled and got a pale blush. Danny remembered that, when Pariah Dark forced all ghosts out of their lairs, Sydney and Dora, the dragon-transforming damsel, were together most of the time, and, when Danny convinced the specters to help him battle the ghostly king, the nerd joined the battle riding and directing Dora in her huge fire-breathing form.

"Well, have to go; tell her I send my greetings." Danny said as waving good-bye, but, before doing it, remembered something about the nerd. "Sydney, can I do you a couple of questions?"

"Sure."

"Well, first time we met you used a mirror as a portal between The Ghost Zone and The Human Realm, so I guess you know a thing or two about mirrors."

"Well, yes, I do."

"Look, there's a ghost at Amity stealing ancient mirrors and attacking people when doing it; he almost killed me once, and got a huge bodyguard that nearly finished me yesterday. His name is Captain Phantasm…"

"He escaped again?" Poindexter wide opened his eyes, gasping. "God, that guy is amazing! This is the fifth time he escapes… at least, since I turned ghost."

"Yes, I already know about how hard is to keep him prisoner."

"What amazes me is that he escaped from 'X' block; it's almost impossible to get out from those cells, and it had been that way since first warden built it."

"The first warden?" Danny arched an eyebrow.

"Walker is just the most recent one; that prison, as I had been told, was built right after Pariah got defeated first time." Sydney explained. "Sure, Walker is a bully, and most of his rules are abusive and unfair ones, but nobody objects his authority because he does a favor to everyone here by keeping an eye on some specters so dangerous all the other ghosts avoid them. Long story short, the jail was originally built to contain ghosts trying to take Pariah's vacant position; most of them are de-powered by now, and are no longer dangerous, except one who is still at 'X', alongside some criminals from more recent times."

Danny rubbed his chin; Poindexter was a better informant that he could have imagined. Then, a thought popped in Danny's mind; maybe Captain Phantasm wasn't stealing those mirrors for himself, but by some other ghost's orders, probably a prisoner from 'X' block.

"I don't want to keep you busy, and I know you most be eager to go with Dora, but… can you give me some information about the other ghosts at the 'X' cells?"

"I'm not seeing her until tonight, so yes, I have some time left." Sydney shrugged as he and Danny started flying towards his lair. "I lived and died a nerd, so most of the time I entertain myself studying and gathering information; among a few other things, I have a good sized file of the most dangerous and famous Ghost Zone's criminals at my lair. There's some pretty interesting stuff, like a guy who designed a flying suit that looked as a prehistoric monster, and used it to commit crimes; he got captured, made a more simple version of the outfit to escape, and it failed at the worst time; now, he looks exactly as the animal he disguised as, and had to be jailed for being both a thief and a cannibal…"

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"Mrs. Manson, there's a cop at the door."

"A cop?" Pamela Manson wide opened her eyes and almost dropped her tea cup. "Oh my… what my daughter did this time?"

"He said nothing about Miss Samantha," the maiden said, "but told me he really needs to talk with you or Mister Manson."

"Fine… tell him to come in." The woman said her maid as regaining her composure and checking her make up. The maid left the main room and returned a minute later with a certain police captain.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Manson; Captain Goyri, at your service," The cop-thief leaned to gently kiss Pam's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Captain; it's my daughter in some kind of problem? If she did, it's because of those awful friends of her. I knew that Fenton kid is nothing but troubles… and that Foley one… oh, my, what got inside that girl's head when befriending them!"

"I didn't come because of your daughter, Mrs. Manson," the 'officer' chuckled slightly, "You see, we were notified about an international cat-burglar that might be hiding in this area, and I was sent here both to warn you and also make an inventory of your most ancient and prized values, since those are this criminal's main target."

"Oh, how awful!" Pamela took a deep breath as wide opening her eyes, "As if this city didn't have enough with those horrible ghosts! Of course I'll cooperate, Captain; it will be my pleasure to show you around the house and help you with the inventory."

"I appreciate your collaboration, madam," the woman didn't notice a slight ghostly glow at the man's eyes, "I would like to start with those objects that are easier to carry, like small-to-medium sized jars, figurines… and mirrors."

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"The Fenton Lipstick, Tucker?" Sam arched an eyebrow at her friend as they approached her house.

"Why not? I mean, it's easy to carry, effective, and has a nice smell." Tucker pointed as Sam rolled her eyes; Danny insisted that, until Captain Phantasm was properly dealt, everyone should carry some anti-ghost weaponry aside the usual Thermos. Tucker chose the Lipstick (that actually was a camouflaged ecto-gun) and Jazz, not surprisingly, carried her favorite weapon, The Ghost Peeler; Sam wanted to use the Jack-o-Nine Tails, but Jack had been updating the weapon lately and wasn't available, so the girl got The Specter Deflector instead.

"Want to catch a movie at home or something?" Sam asked her friend.

"Maybe some other day; Mom is cooking meat loaf today." Tucker smiled widely at the idea of his meat-feast while Sam simply shook her head. Of course, Tucker loved meat, but Sam knew he also wanted to avoid her parents, especially since last time he and Danny were at her home they overheard the couple talking about the boys, and weren't exactly pleased.

Sam waved bye to Tucker and entered her house. She was about to go upstairs when spotting her grandma on her modified scooter (the woman wasn't exactly the wheelchair granny-type) looking at the stairs with a thoughtful expression.

"What's up, Grandma?"

"Oh, hi, Sam," the woman smiled at her granddaughter, but returned to her previous look a moment later, "It's just that your mother is attending a visit, and… I don't know. I simply don't trust him at all."

"Well, you dislike most of my parents' acquaintances, and can't say I blame you." Sam grinned slightly, making her grandma to chuckle a little.

"True, but… I don't know, there's something about this guy I can't really place," Grandma Manson rubbed her chin, "Maybe it's just a bad déjà vu thing; when I was your age, I did some pretty crazy things, and it wasn't rare to have visits from a police captain at home."

Sam froze at the last part, and gave a fast worried look to the stairway.

"Grandma, get out of the house and take the maidens and everyone else with you." Sam said as opening her backpack and taking a techno belt out of it.

"Sam, what… oh, you mean that man…?" The woman gasped when remembering Sam and her friends got attacked by a ghostly cop at the museum.

"Yes; call 911, and The Fentons, quick; I have them in the contacts." Sam gave her cell phone to her grandma right before dashing upstairs, the belt already on her waist.

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"This is one of my favorite objects." Pamela, her and the visitor at the main bedroom, showed him an oval-shaped mirror whose frame was made of oak with silver ornaments. "It belonged to Queen Elizabeth I of England; my husband gave it to me as an anniversary present."

"God save the queen," the 'cop' got an evil grin when checking the mirror, "too bad he'll not save you."

"What did you say, Captain…" Pamela was cut by the man transforming into his real spectral self in front of her.

"**EEEEEEKKKKK!"**

"Have a nice dream, Mrs. Manson." Captain Phantasm took out his gun, and aimed at the woman right when Sam opened the room's door.

"GET AWAY FROM MY MOM, YOU CREEP!" Sam yelled in rage as charging against the ghost. He was about to shoot at her, but the girl surprised him with a tight hug… and the effect The Specter Deflector has on any ghost touching a human wearing it.

"**YEEARGH!"**

The ghost screamed in pain because of the electric-like shock, making him drop his weapon, while Sam jumped at his back without loosening her grip. Pamela, on the mean time, couldn't stand the impression of watching her daughter fighting a ghost, and vanished at the bedroom's floor.

Sam gritted her teeth as the ghost struggled to release himself. The girl wasn't exactly muscular, but she was among her class' best athletes (just behind Dash and Valerie), and this, added to the adrenaline's boost, gave her enough strength to resist for a minute or so, but eventually the specter's might prevailed, and threw her across the room. Sam rubbed the back of her head to clear her vision, and then touched her left side in pain; luckily, it seemed the impact didn't fracture anything, but it still hurt a lot.

"You didn't learn anything at the museum, girl?" Captain Phantasm glared at the girl as leaning to grab his gun. "Whatever you're wearing might protect you from my touch, but nothing will protect you from my weapon!"

"Well, I'm doing it, ghost!"

**BLAST!**

**BLAST!**

**BLAST!**

Sam never thought she would be grateful for Valerie appearing on her Red Huntress' identity, shooting at the ghost through the room's window. The huntress was about to return home from her little flight session, that luckily didn't get limited to her neighborhood, when her ghost alarm detected Captain Phantasm, who now was trying to avoid her blasts, and got forced to phase through the wall behind him to escape.

"Are you two okay?" Valerie asked Sam, noticing her pained expression and Mrs. Manson unconscious; the girl was actually so worried about the possibility of her being late to save the woman she didn't even try to disguise her voice, something she did as Huntress whenever had to talk with any of her classmates.

"Yes, my mom just fainted… we'll be fine, just get that guy!" Sam replied in a hurry as avoiding eye-contact with Val, so the huntress wouldn't feel uncomfortable about the possibility of her identity being discovered and focus on the ghost.

Valerie nodded, and flew over the house, spotting Captain when leaving the building. The girl was about to blast him when the specter spotted her, and started shooting at the huntress, as Sam's grandma and the house's workers, who were now at the street, looked for shelter. Luckily, Danny's warning about the bullets made Val extra-cautious about the ghost's gun, and reacted by supporting most of her weight on the sled's back, making the front to elevate a little, which served as an improvised shield, receiving the bullets. The impacts were strong enough to shake Valerie's vehicle, but she still conserved her balance, and handled to shoot a few times against Phantasm, still shielding her self with the sled, and actually hit him twice, impacting him against the ground.

"Any last words, ghost?" Valerie growled at the specter as dashing against him with her weapons ready to finish him. Despite the pain, Captain grinned at her.

"Yes… It's lunch time!"

SHRIEK!

Valerie had to do an emergency turn to avoid being hit by a huge green ghost that appeared out from nowhere. The specter flapped his (Val assumed it was a male creature) massive wings to gain height, allowing Val to get a good view of him; it was a large red-eyed flying creature, with a huge beak, large tail, and some sort of scaly spike protruding from the back of his head; its body was covered by reptilian scales, and the torso, arms, and legs were human-like, but his hands were clawed ones, and had sharp talons; his wings seemed to be leathered-like, surging from his armpits and the lower part of the forearms.

"A dinosaur ghost?" Valerie got a stunned expression.

"Actually, Pterodactyl Ghost… and is hungry," Phantasm chuckled as phasing through the sidewalk, leaving Val to face the bestial specter.

Valerie shot a few blasts against the pterodactyl, but the creature was incredibly fast and agile, avoiding all of them. Valerie had to make some evasive maneuvers to avoid his sharp talons that almost slashed her a couple times, as the girl restrained of shooting, waiting for the right chance. Finally, when the creature was close enough, Valerie made a fast shot against him, but Pterodactyl surprised her when moving his wings in front of his body, forming a shield that deflected the blast.

"Shielded wings? And now I get to know!" Valerie gulped before diving at high speed right before the creature could bite her head off.

On the meantime, Sam was checking her mother, and when realizing that, as she said to Val, the woman would be fine, the Goth ran to the window to see the battle. Sam gasped when spotting the prehistoric beast trying to turn Valerie into huntress-burgers, and then dashed out of the room to go her own, without noticing the hands phasing through the wall to grab her mother's mirror.

Pterodactyl landed at a nearby house, and then hit the rooftop's edge with his wings, sending the bricks against Valerie. The girl avoided most of them, but one brick hit the back of her right leg, messing with her balance. The beastly ghost saw his chance, and dashed against her, hitting the girl with one of his wings, taking her down from the sled. Pterodactyl then dived to catch-slash-eat the girl the moment she hit the ground, but the sled, as it was programmed, flew on her own to catch the girl before the ghost could get her. Valerie sighed in relief, realizing how close she was from dying this time; her relief was short-lived, of course, as the specter turned back to attack her.

"Well, obviously I can't face you in the air, so let's get some ground rules, Rodan." Valerie growled at the specter right before flying street-level, with Pterodactyl in hot pursuit. The huntress allowed the creature to get closer, and, right when feeling his talons at her back, Valerie jumped down her sled, rolling at the pavement to avoid hurting, while the creature, surprised, couldn't stop his flight and hit a parked car.

Valerie stood up and started shooting at Pterodactyl, who received a few good shots before shielding himself with his wings. The beastly specter, when stopped feeling the blasts, opened back his wings to fly, but got surprised by a powerful kick on his beak. Valerie, taking advantage of his enemy's stunned state, threw a series of punches against the creature chest and head; as she expected, the pterodactyl's wings, even if powerful defensive weapons, weren't so useful in a very close-ranged fight. The huntress finished her attack with a double kick that sent the beast over his back.

"Say hello to extinction, ghost!" Valerie aimed at her enemy with a blaster, but now he had enough space to maneuver. On a dashing move, the creature's tail whipped the blaster, smashing it and almost slashing Valerie's hand. The pterodactyl got a pouncing position, similar to a giant bat's, and then jumped over Val, who got saved by her sled, that returned right at that moment to pick her up.

"Hey, Huntress!"

Valerie, who now was gaining height again, turned at her right, spotting Sam.

"Bring that Jurassic Park's reject close to my window!"

"This is not a game, girl!"

"I know; just trust me, okay?" Sam said in a hurry, hoping to be convincing enough. Valerie saw the pterodactyl heading against her, and nodded at Sam right before moving the contrary direction to avoid another wing attack.

Valerie flew as fast and high as she could, with the creature right behind her. Then, in a sudden, made another diving move avoiding the pterodactyl, right when his beak was about to bite the back of the sled. The girl headed at the Mansons' home at top speed, with the pterodactyl just a few feet behind her, and calculated her trajectory to pass aside Sam's window, barely seven feet away from the building.

"Closer… closer…" Sam said to herself as Valerie and the ghost approached her house.

Valerie passed aside Sam, and, a second later, the pterodactyl was in front of her.

"Now!"

SHOOOOM!

Pterodactyl cried in anger when being caught by the sucking beam from Sam's Thermos. The creature struggled for a few seconds, and tried to escape by flying, but eventually ended inside the ghost trap, making the people at the street to start cheering at Sam and Valerie.

"How did you…" Val, who flew back at the window's level, directed to Sam.

"I'm good friends with The Fentons, and they design anti-ghost weapons; Danny, the family's boy, gave this to me for protection." Sam, smiling in triumph, explained her. Valerie then remembered Tucker once told her about this invention, and she actually tried using a similar one once, but obviously Sam was more skilled with this particular device.

A few moments later, both girls heard the characteristic sound of police cars and ambulances' sirens, as well as the noise caused by Jack Fenton driving his RV, trying to be there on time to catch the ghost even if it meant breaking a few traffic rules and perhaps one or two physical ones.

"That's my cue to leave; you can handle that ghost in there?" Valerie asked Sam, pointing at the Thermos.

"Sure; everything is under control. This lizard is going back to Bedrock." Sam said smugly, and then got a more humble tone, "and… thanks a lot for saving my neck and my mother's."

"Same here; take care." Valerie smirked playfully at Sam, and then flew away, leaving her with the thermos and her thoughts.

"It seems Danny is right; when not trying to catch him, having Val around isn't so bad."

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Several blocks away, Phantasm looked at the recently stolen mirror for a few minutes, and then dropped it in his sack.

"Now, one more mirror, one more favor, and one little visit… and my best job will be accomplished."


	4. A Shocking Battle

**- A Shocking Battle.**

"There's no news about the fugitives yet?" Walker asked Bullet the moment the one-eyed ghost entered his boss' office.

"No, sir, and honestly, that kind of worries me." Bullet confessed, "Captain Phantasm is a sneaky guy, and not that easy to find, but the others can't help but cause mayhem whenever on their own… it's just weird that we hadn't found any, or at least heard rumors about them attacking other ghosts."

"I had been thinking among the same lines." Walker rubbed his chin as walking around his office, "The only possible explanation is that they escaped to The Human Realm before we could organize the search parties."

"You want me to lead a search at The Human Realm, sir?"

"No… there's one good side effect of that possibility." Walker grinned slightly, "Once a ghost invades Amity, eventually he or she will face that pesky ghost boy, and, this time, we can use his overprotective nature for our own good. He might defeat and capture those specters, and send them back here, weakened and hurt enough for us to catch them."

"And if one of those fugitives is strong enough…" Bullet grinned as well, realizing it was a win-win situation. If Phantom could beat the fugitives, he would be doing a service to Walker, and, if not capable, the ghost boy would be eliminated, something the warden would certainly enjoy.

At that moment, both ghosts heard someone knocking the office door.

"Come in." Walker said, and, a moment later, one of his largest guards, who normally was at 'X' block, entered. "What do you want?"

"Eh… I was told you wanted talk to me, sir." The guard replied, confused. Walker and Bullet gave each other a puzzled look.

"Who told you that?"

"A new guard… at least, I think he's a new one, because I had never seen him before." The guard explained, "But I'm sure I would remember him, because he is a white ghost, not a green one like most of us guards."

"A white ghost… in uniform… PHANTASM!" Walker roared in realization, making both Bullet and the guard to jump in shock; the warden then dashed to his desk to activate his speaker, "ATTENTION, EVERYONE! ALL THE GUARDS, GO TO 'X'! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

At 'X' block, Captain Phantasm heard the alarm, and his guard disguise switched to his regular captain's one. The ghost he tricked was the guard in charge of the block's entrance door, and, after getting rid of him, the other guards inside were no match for him; all of them were now currently at the floor, unconscious or moaning in pain because of the bullets on their chests or stomachs. Captain finally reached his destination, the X-13 cell, its gate's bars glowing with green anti-ghost energy.

"Are you ready to go?" Captain talked to the captive, a pale female ghost with long messy white hair, wearing an old gray robe, and with ghostly cuffs on her wrists and ankles.

"The moment you get rid of these cursed restrains, sure I will!" The woman roared at him. Captain Phantasm chuckled, and got an amused expression.

"Don't worry; my helper is doing his job exactly… now!"

In a perfect cue, all the jail's lights turned off, just like the alarm and the anti-ghost's energy forming the bars of the 'X' cells. Of course, the captive ghosts still couldn't escape because of the still active cuffs, but those weren't so resistant.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Captain shot at the woman's cuffs, destroying them easily. The female got a wicked grin, and ran out from the cell; a moment later, she and Phantasm were making some fast stops on each cell so he could get rid of the other captives' cuffs.

"What's happening?" Bullet, running aside Walker and a bunch of other guards, asked when noticing the power failure.

"It's prisoner X-10! He is here as well!" Walker growled without stopping running, "Quick, half of the guards get sure the other prisoners don't escape; the rest, come with me!"

Walker reached the 'X' block's door, and, being an automatic one with no power left, needed the help of a couple of guards to open it. The moment they did it, and before getting inside, a large red-bearded pirate ghost attacked in a fury.

"Get them back to their cells!" Walker commanded his guards, as a couple of them tried to subdue the pirate and the others did their best to contain the rest of the prisoners.

"So long, Walker!" Phantasm mockingly saluted the warden as he and the female ghost left the place. Walker was about to charge at them when a ghostly clown tackled the warden from behind; both ghosts rolled at the floor punching and kicking each other until Bullet assisted Walker and dominated the clown with his electric whip, that was almost out of charge just as the prison's lights and cells.

"Close all the exits! Repair those lights! Do whatever you have to, BUT GET THEM!" Walker growled at his guards, but it was useless; they were all too busy battling the other criminals.

A few minutes later, Phantasm and the female ghost were out of jail, flying at fast as they could, heading to the Fenton Portal.

"You got all the mirrors?" The woman asked a little bit too eagerly.

"All but one; I think we can get it together." Phantasm explained, "There's a very strong opposition to get the mirrors, so I thought it would be safer if we get the last one with you already out of jail. Plus, the guys trying to stop us will be distracted trying to capture my helper."

The female grinned evilly as said 'helper' joined them, she and Phantasm moving aside so he could be the first one to emerge from the portal, and to avoid getting shocked by his touch.

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"Are you sure you don't want to rest, Sam?"

"Yes, Phantasm really shook you yesterday."

"Danny, I told you, I'm fine." Sam rolled her eyes yet conserved a discreet smile, "Seriously, I just got a couple of bruises, no big deal."

"Sorry, it's just that's not everyday one ghost decides attacking us at any of our homes… except in Danny's case, of course." Tucker pointed, getting a soft glare from Danny. The trio and Jazz were currently at Danny's room, discussing the events of the previous day.

"Still, this just supports the need of us carrying an anti-ghost weapon at all times." Jazz commented.

"No kidding; without the Deflector and Valerie's help, my mom and I would be done by now." Sam sighed; she hated to play damsel in distress, but it was obvious Phantasm and his bodyguards were dangerous enough to skip that detail for once.

"How is your mom, by the way?" Danny asked.

"She's back to her usual self. Actually, I think she is more upset about losing her favorite mirror than the fact a ghost attacked us, or that it was thanks to one of your parents' inventions that we're still among the living." Sam groaned in annoyance; she couldn't hate her parents (no matter how much she tried), but the girl didn't like them that much either, especially when acting like complete jerks and thinking so low about her friends.

"Okay, let's drop the subject of your mother's wrong sense of priorities for now, and focus on Danny's research." Jazz suggested, getting some amused looks from the younger teens.

"Well, Poindexter wasn't kidding about his files; they're very complete." Danny started, getting everyone's attention (especially Jazz's, who, always the learning-type, suggested the previous day to actually invite the nerdy ghost some other day for a chat and share information), "I got to see the profile of the ghosts assisting Phantasm; by the way, that pterodactyl was a human when alive, but used a dinosaur's disguise when committing his crimes, and died using a similar one, therefore he turned into that creature as a ghost."

"Too bad for us he wasn't a baseball team's mascot." Tucker joked.

"Whatever. Anyway, Sydney showed me the files of all the ghosts currently at 'X' block… many of them, curiously, seem to be obsessed with a group of meddling kids and a dog… but there's one that might be the key of this whole mess." Danny said as taking out a notebook where Jazz wrote down his conversation with Poindexter, thanks to her hearing everything through the earphones.

"After Pariah got defeated first time, and condemned to the Coffin of Forever Sleep, several ghosts saw the chance to take his place as the ruler of all ghosts. One of the most powerful was a woman, Rorrim, better known as The Mirror Empress; her main weapons were five magical mirrors that gave them several powers, including stopping other ghosts from using their skills. She was eventually defeated, after a battle that nearly destroyed half of the Ghost Zone, and became Prisoner X-13, the most dangerous and secured of them all."

"And what happened to her mirrors?" Sam asked, intrigued.

"They were destroyed so she couldn't use them again if escaping; however, according to Sydney's files, it seems she can replace them with regular mirrors as long as they fulfill certain characteristics; namely, being ancient ones, similar sized to her original mirrors, and made at different parts of the world, plus, and this one is the strongest rumor, they must be somehow linked to a powerful empire or kingdom." Jazz, who already knew about the research, replied.

"Okay, that would explain everything except why Captain Phantasm is helping her." Tucker commented.

"He is a burglar, Tucker, and one who knows prison life very well. She probably offered him some sort of payment." Danny guessed.

"But, for him getting paid, and she using the mirrors, Captain will need to take her out of jail, or maybe bring her the mirrors there." Sam deduced.

"True, and, as long as we know, he only has four mirrors. But we already know as well that he can escape that prison with ease, and even release other criminals, so taking out the Empress wouldn't be so hard." Jazz added.

"Then our best chance is me waiting at The Ghost Zone to get Phantasm the moment he decides releasing Empress, while you guys guard the portal." Danny proposed. "Sydney told me a lot of the information about this lady is classified one, including the way she got defeated first time, so we can't risk her getting her powers back."

"Before you do it, did Poindexter tell you how many bodyguards our thief got out of jail?" Tucker asked.

"No; Walker is keeping the fugitives' identities secret to everyone but his guards, obviously; he doesn't want the whole Ghost Zone to know about his failure at keeping them locked in." Danny replied, "But, on the meantime, we are keeping both Pterodactyl and Boxing Ghosts in their thermoses until we solve this; otherwise, they might help Phantasm again. Once we handle this thief, I'll release them near Walker's prison so he can catch them… or maybe I can negotiate a truce or some sort of deal with him and deliver them in person; I hope he dislikes them more than he hates me."

At that moment, the house's lights started failing, and Danny's ghost sense got activated.

At the lab, Jack and Maddie, who were currently trying to perfect a gun to use against the ghostly cop-thief, turned back at the portal. A large sparking humanoid figure emerged from it, roaring at the hunters, with Phantasm and Empress behind him.

"Good afternoon, sir and madam," Phantasm saluted mockingly, and then pointed at his huge companion. "I have a riddle for you; what happens when a convicted murderer goes to the electric chair and turns into a ghost? Here's a clue."

"We'll capture you, miserable ghost!" Jack growled as grabbing a large ecto-gun.

"Nobody attacks our son and his friends, and escapes so easily!" Maddie added as getting her own gun. Then, both hunters shot against the largest specter, who received the whole charge…

And started laughing, as the blasts got absorbed by his body and he almost doubled his size.

The large ghost extended his arms, and, a moment later, the batteries from all the weapons at the lab got drained, feeding the specter. Captain and Empress, cackling, phased through the wall behind them while Jack and Maddie had to dash out from the lab to avoid the powerful electric blast the massive ghost shot against them.

BOOM!

A moment later, the huge ghost emerged from the hole he made at the basement, and started walking down the street, making the whole neighborhood's lights and domestic appliances to malfunction. Danny and company dashed at his room's window, their jaws dropping when looking at the fugitive specter; Jazz then looked down at her notebook, finding a name among the criminals' Poindexter told Danny about.

"The 10,000-Volts Ghost."

"I'm Going Ghost!" Danny battle-cried jumping out the window, and transformed into his Phantom self at mid-air.

The 10,000-Volts Ghost spotted Danny heading against him, and attacked with a massive voltage ball; the boy avoided it by a few inches, the ball destroying part of a rooftop instead. Danny then started blasting the specter, but just like his parents' weapons, the huge ghost fed on the energy, turning even bigger, and attacking Danny back with a massive electrical charge.

Danny formed an ecto-shield to protect against the attack, resisting, but it was strong enough to force him back several feet. The boy then looked down, smiling when spotting a fire hydrant.

"Well, this works in comic books, and I have no other plans." Danny dashed down the street, landing in front of the hydrant. The boy blasted the massive specter several times to get his attention, and, when he tried grabbing him, Danny jumped aside; the ghost hit the hydrant, blasting it and releasing a huge water column.

**ZHRAAAAKLLLEEE!**

The ghost yelled in pain when getting hit by the liquid, but it wasn't enough to short-fuse him. The specter growled at Danny, and sent a powerful blast against him, zapping and sending the boy against a nearby wall.

"I need more water… man, where's a tsunami when you need it?" Danny said to himself as rubbing his head. The boy wide opened his eyes in fear when looking at the 10,000-Volts Ghost aiming at him with his open hands, and Danny hardly could escape an electric beam by phasing through the sidewalk.

"Hey, you! Yes, I'm talking to you, big, bright, and ugly!" The specter turned when hearing The Red Huntress, who was flying against him, her weapons aiming at the huge ghost. "I want that ghost gone as well, but guess you'll be first!"

The ghost received several impacts, and laughed, surprising Val. The girl tried to avoid an electric blast, but it hit the back of the sled, shocking the girl and messing with the vehicle's guide systems, so she fell from it while the sled flied erratically, no chances of saving her as usual.

"Got you!" Danny emerged from the pavement, catching Valerie on mid-air. The half-groggy girl regained full conscience almost immediately.

"Put me down, ghost!"

"Calm down, can you? I'm trying to help here." Danny said as landing and putting her down gently. "One bit of advice; that ghost feeds on energy, so your blasts only make him stronger."

"I noticed that." Valerie growled as looking at the huge specter that was now ignoring them and heading downtown. "But I can't let him go! That walking light can destroy the city in a moment, and I'm not sitting down and watch!"

"Well, unless you can drop a pool over him, there's not too much you can do against that guy." Danny snapped; Valerie, instead of fighting back, took a few shiny objects out from her outfit's pocket.

"Ghost bullets?" Danny gulped at the sight of the projectiles. Valerie ignored his expression, and took out a little blaster as well.

"Yeah; my sled got shot several times yesterday, so I removed them from it and then inserted on one of my weapons, and worked fine; my intention was using the bullets on you, but guess still owe you for rescuing a friend of mine at the museum, for whatever reason you might have, so I'm shooting down that giant instead."

"Uh… thank you." Danny replied, still a little scared but relieved when hearing Val wasn't attacking him this time. The girl's sled, now working properly again, flew next to her, and the huntress jumped over it to chase the monstrous ghost.

A few moments after Valerie left, Danny felt his cell phone vibrating inside his outfit's pocket, and took it out.

"_**Danny? Sam here; are you alright?"**_

"Yes, but this ghost is a major problem. Valerie is chasing him now, and she seems to have something effective, but I doubt it will be enough."

"**_Your parents and Jazz are heading there on the RV; Tucker and I are at the Operations Center. Listen, we already got a plan to fight that creature, but you have to get a few hundred feet of cable to make it work…"_**

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At Paulina's home, her father was chatting with his guests while the girl was doing the same with the A-list's guys; she liked her dad's fancy dinners, but sometimes she got bored being surrounded just by people her old man's age, so asked him to let her invite some 'friends' to have someone to talk during the event; of course, she also did it to show off her new last-fashion blue dress and bright designer shoes.

"Now, if I might have your attention," Mister Sanchez cleared his voice as walking next to an object hanging from the wall, covered with red silk clothing, "I'm showing you the rarest, most valuable piece of my art collection."

The man removed the clothing, revealing an oval-shaped mirror with a golden frame that had some small emeralds as well; everyone wide opened their eyes at the sight of the object (except Dash and Kwan, who were too busy with the snacks) while the man stood in front of it.

"This Spanish mirror belonged to Queen Isabel of Castilla; she and her husband, Fernando, financed Christopher Columbus' journeys partly by selling some valuable jewelry, including the mirror." The man said proudly as getting positive remarks from the crowd.

"We like it, and we're taking it."

Everyone gasped when looking at Captain Phantasm appearing from nowhere at the room's center, aiming at the people with his pistol. The specter motioned everyone to move the other side of the room, everyone too scared to try anything but obeying; once they were all apart the mirror, the Empress phased through the ceiling, landing in front of it.

"Oh, it's just perfect!" The female ghost grinned widely, and then turned to see her companion, "The rest of them, quick!"

Captain Phantasm made a fast move with his free hand, and took out his sack. He then passed it to the woman, whose eyes started glowing intensely, and, a moment later, the mirrors at the sack and the one at the wall levitated around her.

"And now, precious mirrors… give me back my old glory!"

The woman cackled as the mirrors moved at high speed around her, forming a bright tornado. The people gasped in horror while Phantasm started laughing as well.

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GROWL!

The 10,000-Volts Ghost leaned in pain when receiving two bullets at his belly. Valerie approached for a third shot, but had to move aside when the ghost reacted and tried to grab her. The monstrous specter couldn't get energy from the bullets, and the impacts were quite painful for him, but he was still far from being defeated.

The Fenton RV arrived at the scene right when Valerie ran out of ammo, and Jack and Maddie, armed with large guns, jumped down the vehicle.

"I hope this work, Maddie." Jack told his wife as them aimed at the ghost.

"I too, Jack. FIRE!" Maddie commanded; the hunters then shot the specter with a cement-like substance that dried immediately, trapping his legs. The ghost struggled a little and finally broke free, but couldn't attack the hunters because they were shooting back.

On the meantime, Jazz, who had sneaked inside the RV without her parents noticing, ran to the vehicle's keyboard, sending some commands to its computer. The antenna Jack installed on top of the vehicle to project a portable ghost-shield came to life, and moved aiming at Jazz's house general direction.

"It's everything ready?" Danny, phasing inside the vehicle, using the Fenton Gauntlets and carrying a large roll of cable, asked his sister.

"In a moment," Jazz replied as calling Tucker and Sam through her earphone. "I'm on position, guys; how are you doing?"

"Fine," Sam, at the Operations Center, called back. "Tucker made some modifications to the antennas; we are ready."

"Good." Jazz then turned at Danny. "It's up to you, bro."

Danny nodded at her, and phased out of the RV. He then opened a hidden compartment, revealing the vehicle's alternative power source, The Ecto-Converter that could turn ectoplasmic energy into normal electric one; he connected one end of the cable to it, and then flew heading against the ghost, that now was getting used to the cement and could melt it before the substance could solidify and capture him.

"What are you planning, ghost?" Valerie flew next to Danny while checking her outfit for any bullet left.

"I had been attacked by Fentons' weapons enough times to know how they work, and I have an idea to get this ghost with them, but you have to cover me." Danny quickly explained as making a lasso with the cable.

"I still don't trust you, ghost," Val growled, but softened her expression slightly a moment later, "but guess I owe you for saving me a while ago, and rescuing a friend of mine at the museum, so, go ahead; I'm attacking that monster anyway."

Danny nodded at Val right before she dived in front of the ghost to get his attention, saving Jack and Maddie in the process, because their weapons had no more cement left. The specter shot several electric balls against her, not noticing Danny right above him.

"Here goes nothing." Danny said to himself before throwing the lasso over the ghost, catching him.

"So long, Sparky," Jazz grinned (proud of her witty banter finally improving) as pressing a keyboard's button. The Converter got activated, and started draining the ghost's energy; once it got full of it, the antenna shot the excess as a large bright beam.

"Now, Tucker!" Jazz said at her earphone, and Sam repeated the order. Tucker pushed a lever, and, a second later, when the 10,000-Volts Ghost's energy reached the Operations Center, the many antennas and cables at it sent the electricity back to the city's power lines.

Downtown, the massive ghost cried in pain and fear as feeling his energy levels going down; the specter tried to get rid of the lasso, but Danny, with the Gauntlets protecting his hands, contained him. After a few moments, he was smaller than Jack; then, smaller than Danny; and finally, when turning into just a little sphere, got totally sucked inside the Converter. Jack and Maddie, realizing now what Jazz and the ghost boy did, wide opened their eyes in amazement.

"Jazzie-Pants, that was astonishing!" Jack said to her daughter, still hardly believing what happened.

"Jazz, how could you convince the ghost boy to help you do that?" Maddie asked.

"I'm very persuasive." Jazz grinned mischievously as discreetly pushing a button, shooting the sphere formerly known as the 10,000-Volts Ghost through Amity's sky.

"He is coming." Tucker, at the Operations Center, told Sam when checking the equipment's lectures. Sam nodded at him, and aimed at the largest antenna with a Thermo; the girl activated the trap, and, the moment the ghost arrived at the antenna, got sucked inside it.

On the meantime, Danny, sighing in relief, was about to leave before his parents or Valerie decided to start hunting him, when noticing a large light column at the distance.

"What's that?" Valerie, who was flying a few feet away from him, looked at the column as well, just like almost everyone in Amity. Danny frowned when finally recognizing the general direction the light seemed to surge; Paulina's neighborhood.

"Problems."


	5. Evil Reflections

**- Evil Reflections.**

"Okay, ghost, spill it; you know something about that?" Valerie pointed at the large column without losing sight of Danny.

"Look, I'm just guessing here, but… well, Captain Phantasm, that ghost that we both had been fighting lately, have used bodyguards to protect himself and distract us so he can do his robberies; the first was a mega bruiser, next was that flying freak I heard you and that Manson girl defeated yesterday, and now, I suppose, he sent Mister Sparks against us while performing another crime." Danny quickly explained, getting ready to dash at the light's direction while taking off his gauntlets and placing them at his back thanks to the same straps he used to hold the Thermos.

"Are you going to attack him?"

"Yes, I'm hitting, blasting, punching, and all the stuff involved… so, if you excuse me, thanks again for your help, and for not shooting at me this time, but have to go." Danny left in a hurry, flying at top speed at the light's source. Valerie, as well as everyone else on Amity, got a good look at the column, and then, frowning, followed Danny.

"I too have some unfinished businesses with that captain, ghost!"

Danny stopped in front of Paulina's house, looking at several people (most of Mister Sanchez's guests, and his servants) leaving the place in a hurry. Then, the light faded, and two specters emerged from the building by phasing through the rooftop; Danny frowned when recognizing Captain, and then gave his full attention to his companion, a ghostly woman with bright red eyes, long silver-glowing hair, and an evil grin, wearing a bright red and green mixture of dress and tunic; the stolen mirrors were around her, circling the ghost at slow motion.

"The Mirror Empress, I presume."

"Oh, you know my name! How nice, young man," Empress gave Danny a predatory look, "and I assume you're this dumpster's resident specter. Don't worry, I'm not staying here for long; just enough to have some fun, and then I'll return The Ghost Zone; maybe I'll come back here later and conquer this realm."

"I have a better idea; I'm breaking those mirrors, and send you back jail!" Danny said as shooting a powerful ghost ray.

Unfortunately, the attack never touched the woman; one of the mirrors, glowing, moved in front of her, absorbing the ray, and sending it back against Danny, who barely could avoid getting hit by his own energy.

"You know the proverb; it's better to give than to receive." The woman cackled.

"Funny you said that," Captain interrupted her, "because it's time for me to get my reward."

"Oh, yes; I promised you the exact location of the treasure I gathered right before getting jailed." Empress turned slightly at him, "I'm doing something better; taking you there!"

The mirror right in front of Phantasm got a slight bright, and then a large energy beam jumped from it, hitting the thief. Before Phantasm or Danny could react, the beam sucked the evil ghost thief inside the mirror.

"Don't give me that look, boy." The woman said in fake innocence, "The more ghosts I absorb inside the mirrors, the more powerful I turn. And you look like a very suitable energy source."

Danny noticed the mirrors' bright, and dived to avoid getting captured as well. Unfortunately, one beam caught him, and started sucking the boy. The woman grinned in triumph, not noticing the red figure flying against her.

BLAST!

Valerie's attack hit the mirror, and, even if the blast bounced on it, almost getting the girl, served right to cut the tractor beam for a moment, releasing the boy.

"We are even, ghost!" Val said to Danny as preparing another blast. "Now, leave so I can break some glass here!"

"Valerie, wait!"

BLAST!

BLAST!

BLAST!

BLAST!

The mirrors moved at high speed, blocking all the attacks and redirecting them against the huntress. Valerie avoided two of them, but the third one hit the side of her sled, unbalancing her, and the fourth stroke her chest, sending her down. Danny flew under her, and caught the girl and the vehicle.

"Great; now I owe you again." Valerie groaned softly as Danny sighed; at least, that comment meant the girl wasn't badly hurt.

"A ghost and a human fighting alongside… things had changed a lot on the last centuries." The Empress rubbed her chin, "Well, one thing hadn't changed; humans don't give me that much power when sucking them, so you're going down, young lady."

The mirrors moved in front of the Empress, and got a dark blue glow; then, the five mirrors started shooting large beams against Danny, who had to drop the sled (that luckily flew away, alerted by its self-preservation alarms) to avoid the shots while still holding Valerie. Danny phased inside a nearby building to leave Val there, barely escaping a particularly powerful attack, and re-emerged to attack the woman.

Danny used his ghostly shield to protect from a beam, and then, using his free hand, attacked Empress with a freezing ray. Unfortunately, the mirrors reflected it just as they did with the regular blasts, and Danny had a split-second to move aside and dodge the returning ray, that froze a large section of the building behind him.

"No more tricks, my dear boy?" Empress mocked Danny right before sending a massive beam from the golden-framed mirror. Phantom protected again by using his shield, but this time it was barely enough to resist the attack.

"Okay, time for the big guns." Danny said to himself as landing at the closest rooftop, glaring at Empress. The boy took a deep breath.

"**Ghostly WaaAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIILLLL….!"**

The visible sound waves emerging from Danny's mouth, as usual, were heard all over Amity, and shattered all the buildings around him, plus breaking several windows and scaring all the city's dogs and cats.

"CUT THAT!" Empress growled as covering her ears, while her mirrors moved in front of her for protection; this time, they didn't returned the attack, and the woman certainly felt the impact, but it wasn't as effective as Danny expected. After almost a minute, Danny's wail faded, and he fell on his knees, exhausted.

"A brave attempt, kid, but nothing compared to a banshee army." Empress groaned and gave Danny a murderous look. Then, she commanded one of her mirrors in front of her, and activated its sucking effect; this time, Danny couldn't fight the force, and was quickly sucked inside the mirror, at the same time Valerie finally felt good enough to get a look at the battle, and his parents and Jazz arrived at the scene on the Fenton RV.

"Danny…" Jazz, horrified, covered her mouth as watching her brother disappear in front of her.

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WHACK!

Danny landed face first on a bright green surface.

"Not exactly my best landing." Danny rubbed his nose as raising his head to get a look at the place he was. It looked a lot like The Ghost Zone, but, surprisingly, the whole area around the place he crashed was covered in golden coins and assorted jewelry. Danny assumed it was the treasure Empress promised Phantasm.

"Oh, great, Fenturd is here too!" Danny heard Dash's annoyed voice, and gasped when turning to see him. The jock seemed to be deflated or something, because his muscles were gone, and his clothing was now ridiculously oversized for him.

"Dash? What happened to you?"

"Forget about him! Somebody help me!" Danny then looked at his left, spotting Paulina, barely recognizing the girl; her skin looked a lot like a toad's, and her hair was messy and broken. Not surprisingly, she was doing her best to cover her face as a group of little children on formal clothing mocked her.

"Can you please cool down? We all have problems here!" Danny wide opened his eyes when Star approached Paulina from behind; the blonde's head remained mostly the same, but her body was entirely Amazonian, tall and pretty well built.

"Okay, I'm getting a headache." Danny shook his head, "Can someone explain me what happened here?"

"That would be me, Fenton." Kwan approached the group; he looked entirely the same, but his tone and posture were totally different. "Apparently, the apparition that introduced herself as The Mirror Empress had caught us in some sort of parallel universe or dimension through the seemingly supernatural properties of her mirrors. As a side effect, and, corresponding to a mirror's inversing characteristics, we had developed personality and/or physical features that are opposite to our regular ones. Dash, our school's star athlete, is what we can consider a weakling; Paulina, who had always been proud of her certainly attractive looks, is now physically unappealing; her father's guests, all of them mature and sophisticate adults, had been reduced to a group of bratty kids; Star, a very graceful cheerleader, had changed said grace into brawl; and, as you might have noticed, my original IQ, that, I admit, is normally hardly on an average level, had increased notably. I don't see any major change on you, Fenton, but I'm 99 percent sure you might show it eventually."

Danny got a shocked expression at the jock's unusually intelligent speech, but it certainly explained why everyone looked and acted so different; at that moment, Danny finally noticed he had turned into his human self the moment he arrived at the mirror dimension, but thought it was because of the Ghostly Wail's draining effect, at least until now.

"Thanks a lot for the explanation, kid." Everyone turned to see Captain Phantasm, on his human disguise, aiming at them, "Now, if you're so smart, perhaps you can tell me how to leave this place and take the treasure with me."

"Well… that might take some time and a proper research, and, as you might have noticed, even if my intelligence had certainly augmented, I lack the instruments or experience to perform it…" Kwan tried to keep his cool but it was obvious the gun scared him.

Since everyone was distracted with Phantasm, Danny decided to turn invisible and try to surprise him from behind; he would later invent some excuse to cover his sudden appearing and attack. However, when he tried doing it, Danny found his invisibility power was gone; surprised, Danny tried using his phasing power on his right foot and make it pass through a small pile of jewels behind him, failing as well.

Danny remembered Sydney's story about Empress being able to cancel ghost powers, and then Kwan's reasoning about the mirror dimension's properties; the opposite of a ghostly body is a human one, so his spectral abilities were gone.

"_But, if I got affected, it means Captain isn't using a disguise… he is human as well!"_ Danny thought, and decided using whatever advantage he had.

"Why don't you escape by yourself, fool?" Danny snapped at Phantasm, who turned his gun at the boy, forgetting about Kwan. Danny lost no time, and jumped at his enemy, grabbing him by the wrist.

What happened next surprised everyone, but Danny the most. He didn't just forced Phantasm (who was way bigger and apparently stronger) to release the gun, but dominated him with ease, and then, as if the former ghost was just a rag-doll, Danny lifted him over his head, and threw his enemy several feet away.

"Star, don't let him stand up!" Kwan reacted and addressed the blonde, making her to react as well. Phantasm, stunned, tried to stand up, but the now muscular teenage girl was faster and caught him by the collar, and then knocked him out with a mighty punch.

"A very surprising and welcome change, I see." Kwan said to Danny as he and the other persons looked at him. Danny knew everyone would attribute his sudden strength to the dimensional effect, and he had another theory supporting this change; being a half-ghost, his spectral self was normally way more powerful than the human one, but now, not having access to his regular powers, his human body's attributes were largely enhanced. Being a normal ghost, on the other hand, Phantasm lacked special attributes as a human, having only regular man's ones, and supernatural escaping skill gone.

"_At least I can control Captain, especially with Star on my side, but being super-strong isn't going to take us out of here."_ Danny thought as picking up the pistol and getting rid of the bullets, throwing them away; the last thing he wanted was having a charged pistol with a criminal around, even if unconscious, especially since Danny's own weapon, the Fenton Gauntlets (still strapped to his back) were now a pair of kitchen mittens.

"Too bad you can't punch us back home, Fentonio." Dash said in his usual mocking tone, but conserving his distance, since he wasn't risking making Danny mad after looking at what he could do.

Danny rolled his eyes at Dash's comment that, for once, agreed with his own thoughts. However, after a moment, his expression brightened as taking a little object out from his pants' pocket.

"I have an idea. This is a Fenton Earphone; my parents designed it for communication inside the Ghost Zone, so maybe I can contact someone even if trapped in this dimension."

Kwan nodded at Danny while everyone (except the unconscious Phantasm) got eager looks as the boy placed the device on his ear.

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"This is the most fun I've had in ages!" Empress laughed as her mirrors reflected back Jack and Maddie's blasts. The hunters narrowly avoided getting hit by jumping behind a parked car.

"Nothing is working against that ghost!" Jack, panting, said to his wife. "Maybe we should return home to pick up more weapons!"

"And what one? That ghost's shield reflects back everything we shoot at her!" Maddie said as taking a look at the specter, and wide opened her eyes in fear.

"Jack, run!"

BOOM!

The hunters barely escaped from the powerful blast that destroyed the car they were hiding behind. At that moment, several police officers appeared on scene, surrounding the ghost. Valerie looked at them from the room she was still recovering, and gasped as they aimed their guns against Empress.

"Stop! Don't shoot her!"

PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG!...

Luckily, nobody was killed, but many officers were wounded by their own bullets, the ghost cackling evilly the whole time.

"That's it!" Valerie growled, and since luckily her sled was now working a little better, jumped from the window and approached Empress at high speed to hit her directly, which hopefully would be more effective that bullets and blasts.

WHAM!

Val was sent down, spinning, and it was almost a miracle she could regain control of her sled before crashing. Empress gave her an amused look, and noticed the building behind the girl, one with pretty large windows that reflected the huntress' image.

"This will be so amusing." Empress grinned as shooting a blast against Valerie; the girl avoided it, but the ghost's real target was the windows behind her. A moment later, the glass started glowing red.

"Look, honey, I got triplets." The ghost laughed as three Red Huntresses jumped out from the windows; they looked exactly as Val, sled and all, but slightly transparent, and her eyes glowed an intense green.

"I'll rather be an only child, thank you!" Val, recovering from the initial surprise, started shooting at her copies that avoided the attack and shot her back. Valerie dived to escape, the three mirror clones behind her.

"If this is what Phantom feels, it's not nice!" Valerie said to herself as being chased down the street. The girl tried several evasive maneuvers, but couldn't lose her pursuers, and, eventually, one shot hit her and took the huntress down. Valerie rubbed her shoulder in pain as the three clones surrounded her, aiming at the huntress, who refused to give up and glared at them.

"Come on, show me if I'm that tough." Valerie growled at the clones as adopting a battle stance and giving them a challenging look. The copies smirked and took down their guns as their sleds, just like the original one, incorporated to their outfits; then, they adopted battle stances as well, slowly circling Valerie, ready to attack her.

Empress flew over Valerie and the copies, enjoying the show, so didn't notice Jazz slowly approaching from behind. The red-haired girl aimed carefully at her with a Thermos, and then opened it, hoping to suck her in. Unfortunately, the mirrors protected Empress, fighting the Thermos' tractor beam with a repulse one, hitting Jazz with an energy shock. The ghost turned slightly to see her before returning to watch the huntress.

"_**Jazz? Jazz, are you okay?"**_

"Yes, I am, Sam," Jazz replied the Goth via her earphone, "but the Thermoses are useless as well. Honestly, I have no idea about how to attack this ghost, or how to bring Danny back."

Sam was about to reply when both girls and Tucker heard a weird noise on the earphones.

"What's that?" Tucker asked Sam, who wide opened her eyes a moment later.

"It's Danny! I don't know what he's saying, but that's his voice!"

"You're right, Sam, but what language is that?" Jazz said, and then realization hit her. "Tucker, record whatever Danny is saying, and then play it backwards."

Tucker obeyed the older teen, and, when Danny stopped talking, played the tape as was told so he and the girls could hear what the halfa was saying.

"_**Sam? Tucker? Jazz? Guys, if you car hear me, please, answer! I'm trapped in some dimension with the popular guys and some other persons, and everything is pretty weird in here. This place reverses your features and gives you qualities and defects you normally lack; long story short, Dash is skinnier than me, and Kwan is almost a genius. Phantasm is here too, but totally powerless; the good news is that he can't escape, but the same applies to the rest of us. Please, answer!"**_

"Wow; you mean that, in there, I would be Mister Universe or something?" Tucker said, surprised.

"Well, if that dimension reverses everything, guess that explains why ghosts can't escape and we are hearing Danny backwards." Jazz rationalized as hiding behind a corner. "Now, the problem is how to get Danny and the others out of there."

Sam rubbed her chin in silent thought, and then had an idea.

"Tucker, record yourself telling Danny we are preparing something to help him out, and then play the tape backwards so he can understand you; Jazz, stay right there and wait for us; I'm looking for something at Danny's room." Sam said right before leaving the Operations Center, and hoping that the device she was bringing could be activated by a regular human.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Valerie was doing her best against one of her clones. The copy tried kicking her, but the girl blocked it and replied with a fast punch at her belly; the copy received the attack's full force, but resisted and grabbed Val's wrist, twisting it painfully and forcing Val to kneel. The copy then tried kicking her again; Valerie used her free hand to stop the foot heading against her ribs, and, resisting the pain, kicked the copy's feet in a sweeping move, making her to release her prey and fall on her back. The huntress shook her arm in pain and stood up, ready to finish her enemy, but the copy made a tag-team slap with another one, who jumped in front of Val, who had to duck in a hurry to escape a sharp karate chop heading against her neck. The third copy grinned and placed behind the fighters, ready to enter the battle if the other clone needed help, while the copy who already had fought moved aside for rest.

"This is just so funny; much better than standing the guards chatting all day," Empress grinned, and then a nearby shop got her attention, "It's a shame my mirrors' guests aren't having some fun as well… guess I should be a good host, and give them entertainment. Besides, with the regular humans altered, and the ghosts powerless, they can no longer provide me with too much power anyway."

The ghost shot a sucking beam against the place, a pet shop, aiming at two cute little creatures that got her attention on first place.


	6. Breaking Mirrors

**- Breaking Mirrors.**

"No answer yet?" Star, sitting on Captain to keep him on place, asked Danny.

"I get some weird noises, and I'm almost sure they're the voices of my friends and sister, but can't understand what they're saying." Danny replied, sighing. Everyone around him shook his/her head in disappointment, except Dash, who was eying the treasure.

"Well, if we're stuck here, at least we are rich." The blonde commented as getting a greedy look.

"Dash, as long as we are trapped, whatever currency you might posses lose its monetary value since lacking a place to provide us with products or services on exchange of it." Kwan said him as rolling his eyes.

"Uh?" Dash got a confused look.

"He said that money is useless when you don't have a place to buy anything." Danny explained, and, at that moment, his expression brightened. "Guys, I'm getting something! Is Tucker… he says we are getting rescued as soon as they prepare something to help us."

"Tell that fool to hurry up! I can't stand looking like this… and you stop playing with my dress!" Paulina snapped at the kid yanking the back of her skirt.

A few moments later, a large bright circle appeared over the captives, who got eager looks, hoping to be rescued. However, instead of Tucker or any other person, two large creatures entered from the circle, that disappeared immediately after; the animals were dark colored, with huge sharp teeth, long ears, and the size of grizzly bears.

"Are those… rabbits?" A kid asked, puzzled and scared, a moment before the animals roared and charged against the humans. Danny jumped in front of the beasts, hoping his strength would be enough to contain them.

"Giant carnivore rabbits! Everybody run for cover!"

Danny received the full impact from one rabbit's charge while the other attacked the people behind him. Danny placed his hands on the rabbit's cheeks, keeping its long teeth away from his neck, pushing as hard as he could; then, when the animal's jaws were far enough, Danny drew back a fist and punched it full strength, stunning the creature. The boy took advantage of the situation, and kicked the rabbit's side, sending him a few feet away; the animal roared in pain, and attacked back. This time, Danny hardly could avoid the rabbit's bite, and, when the creature tried hitting him with its front paws, the boy jumped over him, starting a rodeo-like struggle, with the rabbit trying to take Danny down from its back while he held himself on place by grabbing its ears.

On the meantime, everyone else was running on several directions, which confused the other rabbit, that couldn't decide on a target, until spotting Captain Phantasm, who was slowly regaining his conscience. The animal charged against him, its roar making the former ghost to react and search for his gun.

"My pistol! Where is it?" Phantasm said in fear and surprise when noticing he was unarmed. The man rolled on the floor to escape a bite, and stood up, ready to run for coverage; unfortunately for him, the rabbit was faster, and turned to hit him with its left paw, hurting Phantasm badly.

"Cool! The rabbit is going to eat him!" Dash said in happiness, hiding behind a pile of coins. Kwan, next to him, had a different opinion.

"As much as I dislike that person, a perfectly logical feeling since he is partially responsible of our current situation, it's ethically and humanly incorrect to find joy in a living creature's suffering, and surely there are legal procedures that can ensure a more proper and civilized punishment, so I insist on us assisting on his despair's moments."

"Uh?" Everybody around Kwan gave him a puzzled look, making him to sigh in annoyance.

"And to think my intellectual capacity is normally smaller than yours," Kwan groaned as taking a jewel next to him, about the size of a tennis ball, and aiming at the rabbit with it, "I meant, we can't let that animal eat him!"

Kwan hit the rabbit's head with the jewel, stopping him by the moment. Star thought for a moment, and then, agreeing with Kwan, took a jewel as well and threw it against the animal; despite having a terrible aim, the girl could hit the rabbit's back, and, with her newly developed strength, it was a good impact. The rest of the people mimicked the Asian and the blonde, and soon all of them were throwing coins and jewels against the rabbit, distracting it, giving Phantasm the chance to crawl away from it.

The rabbit shook its head to get rid of a few coins stuck on its fur, and, growling, prepared to pounce against its attackers. However, at that moment, the other rabbit, with Danny still riding it, headed against its companion at top speed; the animal was so focused on getting rid of its rider, ignored everything around, so didn't notice the other rabbit until was right in front of its nose.

WHAM!

The rabbits clashed as Danny jumped down and rolled away, landing on a bunch of coins. The boy stood up and charged against the stunned animals, and, when at a proper distance, jumped against them, hitting both creatures with a double kick. The rabbits were sent several feet back, landing next to a huge pile of jewelry; the impact made it to fall right over the animals, completely covering and knocking them unconscious.

"You know, if that loser was just a little bit like that when out of this dimension, I would date him in a snap." Paulina, impressed, said to Star, who was staring at Danny just like everyone else.

"Too bad Valerie isn't here; she would love to see him like this." Star said to herself, and then rubbed her chin, "Of course, if Val was here, maybe she would be reduced to a cry baby or something, so it's better she isn't."

"Are you guys okay?" Danny, panting, addressed the rest of the people, who simply nodded in reply. At a distance, Phantasm was rubbing his back in pain, and giving Danny a nervous look.

"And you are fine as well?" Danny turned at Phantasm, who groaned softly and nodded, "Good; now, stay close to the group because I'm not losing sight of you."

At that moment, a little portal appeared just a few feet ahead Danny, and, a few seconds later, it glowed with a slight green tone, as a melody, that was some sort of rock n' roll tune played softly, was easily heard.

"A very interesting phenomenon, I must say." Kwan said as he and the others slowly approached the portal, "Since no vicious creature or helpless victim had appeared from it, guess it's sure to assume this is the assistance we had been waiting for."

"Yes, it is." Danny said to the jock, looking at the portal and getting a slight smile, "Okay, everyone, jump at that portal; I'm doing it the last to keep an eye on both the rabbits and our flesh-and-bone ghost."

Paulina and Dash were the first ones to jump at the portal, followed by the kids, Paulina, and Kwan; Danny then grabbed Phantasm by the collar, surprising him.

"Sorry, but I can't risk you escaping the moment you have your powers back, so…"

PUNCH!

Danny tossed the unconscious Phantasm inside the portal, and then ran next to the rabbits.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh, yeah!" Dash smiled when looking at himself after getting out from the portal (located at the street and right behind the Fenton RV), and ignoring Sam, Tucker, and Jazz next to him. "My muscles are back!"

"And my flawless skin too!" Paulina exclaimed the moment she jumped out of the portal.

"We couldn't leave them inside there?" Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker, who simply shrugged. The rest of the people emerged a few moments later.

"Wow! That was really cool!" Kwan grinned, but his expression changed to a slightly pained one a moment later as he grabbed the sides of his head. "Boy, my head feels dizzy."

"Well, I'm glad we're out of there; that body wasn't exactly fitting on the cheerleading squad… but I guess could have started a wrestling team." Star added as checking her body that was back to normal as well.

"What's taking that young man from going out?" One of the guests, now back to a formal adult, asked to nobody in particular while looking at the portal. At that moment, an unconscious Phantasm, back on his ghostly form, emerged from the portal and landed face first.

"The ghost! Run for your lives!" Dash screamed in fear, making everyone but Kwan (who was still dizzy), Star (helping Kwan to keep balance), and Team Phantom to scram. Phantasm, groaning, raised his head as slowly regaining conscience.

"Jazz, do it now!" Sam said, and, a moment later, Jazz activated the Ghost Peeler; in a matter of seconds, the girl got covered by massive body armor, with two large cannons on her arms.

SHOOOM!

YEEEAAAAGH!

Jazz shot Phantasm with the Peeler's beam, making the weapon to do what its name indicated; literally, the ectoplasm on the ghost's body fell down one layer at a time, and, when finished, Phantasm was just a shadow of his former self. Instead of the strongly built specter in uniform he usually was, the beam turned him into a skeletal one, covered on shredded clothes, and barely able to move or talk.

"Let's see if you're strong enough to escape now." Tucker aimed at Phantasm with a Thermos, sucking him in; with some luck, the ghost would lack the energy he needed to use his power, therefore the trap would contain him.

"You guys do this frequently?" Star, stunned at the scene, finally got her voice back.

"You have no idea." Danny said, right behind Star and the jock, holding two little white rabbits, and the small portal now gone. Danny emerged from the portal a few moments after Phantasm, back in his Phantom form (since it was the way he entered the mirror dimension), and used the momentarily distraction caused by Captain's capture to turn back to human; even Kwan's now normally low intellect would question Phantom emerging instead of Fenton.

"Those are the…" Star pointed at the bunnies, getting a nodding response from Danny. "Well, look at that; they aren't so scary now… can I keep them?"

"If you do, just remember you owe the Pets Shop ten bucks." Sam stated, and then pointed over her shoulder while looking at Kwan and Star, "The mirrors' lady is fighting, well, everyone, just a few blocks ahead, so you'll better leave this place."

The popular teens nodded, and then grabbed the bunnies after heading the other direction as fast as they could; Star stopped a few feet away, and turned at Danny for a moment.

"Thanks for protecting us back there, Fenton; even if you're not that strong here, now I can understand why Val likes you." Star gave Danny a little smile that he replied with one of his own right before she and Kwan left for good.

"The popular crew thanking you… you really did something good in that dimension, uh?" Sam gave Danny a knowing look.

"Not nearly as good as you guys did here." Danny said, and then looked around, "And the same goes for you two; come on, you can turn visible now!"

At that moment, two ghosts appeared next to Danny; his werewolf friend, Wulf, and Danny's former foe currently dating Wulf, Ember.

"Why, thank you for remembering us, dipstick." Ember said with her usual sarcasm, while Wulf high-fived Danny.

"I didn't know you could go to that dimension, Wulf."

"Neither. I. First. Time. Ever." Wulf replied in his short yet clear English.

"And you can thank your friend here for thinking about it." Ember pointed at Sam, "Good thing for you that the whistle can be used by humans as well."

Ember, of course, referred to the special whistle she gave Danny some weeks ago. The little thing allowed Danny to call Wulf whenever he wanted, and, thanks to the lycanthropic ghost's portal-creating abilities, he could materialize one to join his friend wherever he was.

"And good thing your music could keep the portal open so everyone could escape." Tucker pointed; because of the mirror dimension's properties, Wulf would lose his powers if entering it to rescue Danny and the others, leaving him trapped as well, so Ember had to use a special tune to keep the portal active after Wulf created it. They also had to turn invisibles the moment Dash emerged to avoid scaring him and the rest of the rescued humans.

"Well, back to main problem… what the Empress had been doing?" Danny asked which made everyone to get concerned expressions.

"Basically, she is having fun giving everyone a really bad time." Jazz said as deactivating the Peeler to get rid of the body armor. "No matter what our parents or the police do, she has a counterattack for everything. Valerie tried to contain her as well, but this ghost is just too strong."

"What about the Ghost Peeler? We hadn't used that one yet." Tucker proposed.

"You mean a weapon that might backfire and peel your body as a fleshy banana?" Sam arched an eyebrow at her friend, making him to gulp in fear.

"Wulf, you were Walker's prisoner for a long time. No idea about how to stop her?" Danny asked his friend, who sighed sadly.

"Sorry. Only. Spoke. Esperanto. At. That. Time. Never. Talked. To. Her. Only. Know. She. Dislikes. Banshees."

"Wait a moment… banshees? She said something about that after I attacked her with my Ghostly Wail; that it was nothing compared to a banshee army."

"That's it!" Jazz exclaimed, "A banshee is a female specter that communicates through yelling and wailing; what if that's the way Empress got defeated first time, with the help of a large amount of banshee ghosts?"

"And my wail, even if couldn't stop her, hurt her and couldn't counterattack…" Realization hit Danny and everyone else. "Then, the only weapon that serves against the Empress is…"

"SOUND!" Everyone chorused and turned to see Ember, who got a slight grin a moment later.

"Is anyone on the mood for a good concert?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Valerie fell on her back, stunned and bruised, and doing a massive effort to keep conscience, knowing that, if losing it, her suit would disappear, leaving the girl even more vulnerable. One of her copies, also bruised but grinning wide and evilly, stood in front of her; the tag-team strategy worked fine against the huntress, so, even if she succeeded in hurting the mirror clones, she got injured the most while her enemies were still at fighting conditions.

"Very nice, my dear girl; too bad show has to end." Empress, hovering over Val, smirked at her, and then made a signal to the copies, commanding them to finish the girl. The copy in front of her took out a gun, aiming at Valerie's head.

WHACK!

"What the…" Empress got a surprised look as the copy disappeared, destroyed by a powerful hit courtesy of the Fenton Battle Stick (that had anti-ghost energy on its extremes), currently carried by a blue-outfitted woman wearing red goggles.

"Get her!" Empress commanded the other 2 clones while Maddie stood protectively next to Valerie.

"BANZAI!"

The copies turned when hearing Jack Fenton, charging from behind with the Jack-O-Nine Tails, his anti-ghost whip. One clone jumped aside on time to avoid the attack, but the other wasn't fast enough, and got trapped by the weapon; a few seconds later, the whip's tails crushed the copy, and released an energy shock that destroyed it definitely.

"Jack, look out!" Maddie warned her husband about the other clone that attacked a split second after the other copy disappeared. Jack moved back to avoid a karate chop and drew back his hand to use the whip again, but the clone was faster and gave the man a sharp kick on his knee before he could use the weapon. Jack kneeled in pain, giving the clone the chance she needed to kick away the whip, and punch the man's chin.

Jack got stunned by the attack that was thankfully cut by Maddie's intervention, forcing the clone back. The copy avoided a couple of well-directed attacks with the stick and then kicked it away from Maddie's hands, as she did with the whip; the clone then threw a punch against the woman who, surprisingly for the copy, caught it and replied with a good punch of her own. If there was a person at Amity who could match Valerie's fighting skills, and therefore, her clones', was Madeleine Fenton.

The copy rolled at the ground and stood up, adopting a fighting stance; Maddie did the same, and both rivals circled each other. Maddie threw a fast series of kicks that the clone handled to block or dodge, and then replied with one of her own, that was equally blocked. Then, both females got a furious exchange of punches and karate chops, none of them connecting at all because of the fighters' defense abilities. Maddie realized her opponent's technique was as good as hers, plus being slightly faster, but the woman, being taller, knew her reach was better, so decided to use this on her advantage, keeping the copy at a distance with long-range attacks.

Maddie blocked a kick and then faked a punch against her enemy, who quickly moved her arm in a defensive position, not noticing the woman's foot heading against her belly, kicking the copy several feet away. The clone groaned in annoyance when standing up, and took out an anti-ghost gun; Maddie took out one of her own, so now the enemies were aiming at each other, waiting for the rival to do the first move.

BLAST!

The copy got disintegrated, and Maddie turned to see Valerie, still on a shooting position, standing with Jack's help.

"Nice fighting, Mrs. Fenton… kung fu?"

"Yes, sweetie… karate?" Maddie replied as both huntresses gave each other a little smile.

"I just hope that doesn't count as suicide." Valerie said a moment later as she lowered her head, pretending to be checking her bruises yet actually doing it to avoid being recognized by Danny's parents.

The three hunters looked over them when hearing a soft clapping sound coming from Empress' hands.

"How amusing, really. I have to say, you had given me a wonderful show I'll always remember; maybe I should conserve the three of you for entertainment… and actually, that's what I'll do." Empress said in a quiet tone as getting her evil smirk; one of her mirrors started glowing, and moved in front of her, aiming at the hunters, the three of them too injured and tired to escape.

BLAST!

The sucking beam was cut by a powerful ghost ray that got reflected yet avoided. The Empress looked up, and gasped in surprise when spotting Danny hovering over her.

"You do all this just for fun? Two words, lady; cable T.V."

"You… escaped… but that's impossible!"

"'Impossible' is my nickname," Danny smirked, and then got a casual smile, "actually, I have lots of nicknames… 'Whelp', 'Dipstick', 'Invisobill', 'Ghost Boy', and so, but you get the idea."

Danny kept his mocking grin yet discreetly gave a look at Valerie and his parents, glad that they were using the distraction to escape; sure, Jack had to practically drag Valerie away, since the girl, despite her injuries, still wanted to fight, but at least they now were out of the fire line.

"Are you mocking me; the great Mirror Empress, the rightful future ruler of all ghosts?" The woman glared furiously at Danny, her eyes glowing in rage.

"You should put that on a personal card," Danny replied, "I mean, you talk so much the Box Ghost seems a mime when compared. Maybe you should introduce yourself just like him," Danny made a goofy face and then a bad yet funny impersonation, "Beware! For so I'm The Mirror Empress, the mistress of all things shiny and reflecting; fear my vanity-driven rage and my awful make-up!"

"INSOLENT KID!" The woman roared as her mirrors glowed on dark red and blue tones, and started shooting several powerful beams against Danny, who dashed away to avoid them. The Empress, furious, chased him, with Danny phasing through parked cars, walls, and mailboxes that got the shots instead of him.

"That's it, lady, keep shooting at the ghost boy, and don't think about anything else." Danny said to himself as dodging the multiple attacks while increasing his speed; he wanted the woman to be blinded by rage so couldn't notice or suspect about the trap he was attracting her into.

Danny stopped flying when reaching his destination in the middle of a street with a few tall buildings. The boy landed and got a defiant look as the woman stopped several feet above him.

"This will be your end, boy!" The Empress growled as preparing a massive beam. "There's no way you can escape this one, even if turning intangible!"

"And what if I simply leave?" Danny said, and, in a perfect cue, one of Wulf's self-made portals appeared behind him, and the boy jumped inside. Before the female ghost could react, a powerful sound wave hit her from everywhere.

UUNNNGH!

"GOOD NIGHT, AMITY PARK!" Ember, standing on top of the tallest building, yelled at the microphone in front of her while playing loudly her guitar.

The Empress covered her ears while her mirrors did their best to protect her; the woman gave a look around, finally realizing the ghost boy had guided her to a set-up. Wulf and Danny had transported a lot of sound equipment both from Ember's lair and Fenton Works (thanks to the lycanthrope's teleporting skills, they could do it pretty fast), and the rocker ghost, aided by Tucker, Sam, and Jazz, installed it at the rooftops so she could send her voice and tunes to them and then against the Empress, who was right in the middle of the improvised trap, and receiving Ember's magnified power from different angles, mimicking the attack of several banshees.

"HOW DARE YOU, STUPID GIRL?" Empress snapped at Ember, doing her best to be heard over the deafening music.

"THERE ARE VERY FEW THINGS I WOULDN'T DARE, GRANDMA. AND DON'T 'GIRL' ME; I'M EMBER… _AND YOU'LL REMEMBER MY NAME_!" Ember replied as increasing her voice's volume and singing the last part, and, a moment later, Danny and Wulf emerged from a new portal aside her.

"AND NOW, FOR THE GRAND FINALE, THE GUEST SINGER… THEEEEEEE DIPSTICK!" Ember introduced Danny as moving aside to allow him in front of the mike without her stopping playing.

"THIS SONG IS CALLED… 'GOOD BYE, EMPRESS'" Danny said right before taking a deep breath; Wulf, as well as Jazz, Tucker and Sam (who were a few blocks away but still could hear everything), covered his ears, and Ember pressed a button on the guitar, getting ready for Danny's stunt.

Empress saw Danny's action, and remembered their previous encounter, right before sending him to the mirror dimension.

"Oh, no…"

**WAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLL…!**

All around Amity, windows and mirrors broke, people covered their ears, and cars' alarms got activated. Seismographers all over the country detected a weird telluric movement, and persons of the neighbor cities jumped in surprise at the sudden mysterious noise. At Amity General Hospital, the comatose manager wide opened his eyes and cringed, and, at his Wisconsin mansion, Vlad felt a deep chill through his spine. At The Ghost Zone, several specters hide in fear at the deepest part of their lairs, one of Skulker's weapons shot by itself, Technus latest invention cracked, Spectra and Bertrand spitted the tea they were drinking, The Box Ghost hide inside a large crate, Klemper froze himself, The Lunch Lady's pot exploded, Desiree's hair got ruffled, Johnny 13 almost lost control of his bike while Kitty's hair paled, and Youngblood swallowed entirely a large candy bar he stole last Halloween.

At Amity, an ancient female ghost's painful cries were blocked by the sound attack that shattered her mirrors, and, after a few seconds…

**CRASH!**

**CRASH!**

**CRASH!**

**CRASH!**

**CRASH!**

"**NOOOOOO!" **Empress yelling was finally heard when Danny's wail died. The crystal pieces fell to the ground, and, a moment later, the ghost fell as well, immediately getting back her unpleasant looks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Empress had left the building." Danny panted and almost fell over his back because of exhaustion but Wulf helped him keep balance.

"I normally don't do duos, but that was really impressive, dipstick." Ember commented, and then got a little grin, "You realize that breaking a mirror means 7 years of bad luck, right?"

"Well, in this case, I guess the bad luck isn't for me." Danny replied a split second before changing back to human because of the Ghostly Wail's draining effect.

At the street, Empress was kneeled, touching the mirrors' pieces, and pathetically trying to put them together.

"Please… please… come on, my beauties… you can't fail me now…"

"Back to the retirement home with you, oldie," Ember, hovering over the defeated ghost, said right before trapping Empress inside a Fenton Thermos. "It feels great to be the other end of this thing for once."

Danny and Wulf, still at the rooftop, chuckled slightly at the scene and the irony of Ember using the very same device where she had been trapped several times in the past. Danny then gave a good look around, and sighed when realizing the damage caused by his little concert.

"I wonder if the 35 bad-luck years supposedly got actually stand for the 35 life-times I'll need to work to pay for everything I broke."

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At the spectral prison, Walker paced back and forth on his office; he was upset, anxious, and worried, all at the same time.

"Twelve hours," Walker groaned to himself, "a half-day without news about Prisoner X-13… and that mysterious sound yesterday… I don't like this." Walker rubbed his temples; knowing from previous warden how Empress got caught first time, he already had given instructions to his guards to gather a banshee army, but, because of their lonely and reclusive nature, getting enough banshees to actually try catching her would take several days, and, by then, the Empress would surely have returned and taken over the Ghost Zone.

"SIR, QUICK!" Walker turned to see Bullet entering his office in a hurry, "The Ghost Boy… he is here, outside the prison!"

Walker didn't say a thing as literally flying out of his office. As Bullet said, Danny was out of the prison, with the guards aiming at him with their weapons, yet, strangely, Danny was almost as calm as the ghost aside him.

"You came here to give up, boy?" Walker said to Danny the moment he saw him.

"Nope; I came to make a deal. Oh, and you know my lawyer?" Danny said, pointing at Sydney, who was carrying a black suitcase.

"Sydney Poindexter, at your service, Mister Walker," Sydney said as grabbing his glasses, "My client here and I are willing to negotiate the elimination of the capture order against him, and a few other petitions as well, on basis of his services provided to the Ghost Zone's legal system."

"Are you crazy?" Walker growled. "What services are you talking about?"

"The capture of Mirror Empress, for example."

Walker and his guards wide-opened their eyes all of them hardly believing the nerdy ghost was saying.

"But… it can't be… I mean, that woman is nearly unbeatable!" Walker finally got his voice back.

Danny placed a hand inside his outfit's pocket, and took out a shiny object he tossed to Walker, who couldn't believe his eyes; the object was a very ancient golden coin.

"I picked that up from the Empress' realm; it's not easy to get in or out, by the way, so don't even think about trying to get her treasure. I just brought that coin as evidence; good thing it seems the lady's powers don't alter gold and jewels."

"Now, as Rule 399-B, section K, paragraph 8 states," Sydney, who, as he claimed, spent most of his time studying and therefore had memorized Walker's laws perfectly, addressed the warden, "a ghost's sentence can be negotiated whenever he or she provides a significant service to The Ghost Zone. This clause was effectively used by all the ghosts that joined Phantom when he asked for a truce to fight Pariah Dark the second time he got defeated, which explains why several of your former prisoners, namely Skulker, The Box Ghost, The Lunch Lady and Technus, among others, are currently free, as well as some other specters with apprehension orders against them, like Ember. This means, of course, that you still owe Danny for said service, and, added to this one, it also means he can negotiate some special favors and concessions as well."

Walker groaned silently; he hated whenever his own rules were used against him. He was about to reply, when Sydney cut him.

"And, if by any chance you are about to change that rule, let me remind you Rule 128-H, section T, paragraph 11, stating that any modification of the rules can't be done the exact moment said rule is being applied or quoted."

Walker got silent, and eyed both ghosts. He could forget about the rules for once, and lock them in, but there were two details stopping him; first, going against the rules was entirely against his nature, and sure, he could twist or modify them, but the one the nerdy ghost mentioned stopped him from doing it right now; and second, the ghost boy had solid evidence of him fighting Empress, and it was possible he had caught her and the other fugitives, something Walker wanted even more desperately than getting even on his young nemesis.

"What do you want?" Walker finally said, clenching his teeth.

"First of all, get rid of that apprehension order against my client." Sydney started, "Second, you must promise to never, ever, attack Amity again, and allow objects and visitors from the Human Realm whenever they're not dangerous or hostile. Also, stop from changing and adding rules every time you feel like doing it, and allow some decent and respected specters to check the rules book to make some proper modifications and have a more fair and reasonable legal system."

"What do you mean with 'decent and respected', boy?" Walker arched an eyebrow. Sydney smiled and opened his suitcase, taking out three papers he immediately handled to the warden.

"According to the current rules, these ghosts fulfill the formalities asked to serve as law mediators; Lady Dorothea, ruler of the Middle Age area of The Ghost Zone; Frostbite, king of the yeti ghosts; and finally, Clockwork, the time guardian. All of them are well respected authority figures, and had agreed with us, as these signed documents can tell."

While Walker checked the documents (that apparently were perfectly in order), Danny approached him.

"I also want to ask for Wulf's sentence and apprehension order to be cancelled as well."

"Why would I do that?" Walker growled.

"Because Wulf helped me catch Empress, plus he is currently keeping an eye on Phantasm so he can't escape again, therefore he also paid a major service to the Ghost Zone." Danny calmly explained, "Ah, and we want all this deal on paper, just to be sure; then, I'll compromise to bring here the Thermoses where we're keeping your fugitives."

Walker glared at Danny for a few moments before sighing in defeat.

"Bullet, prepare the paperwork."

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"Danny, wake up!"

"Uh? Jazz, it's Sunday… unless Vlad is downstairs, nothing is moving me from this bed." Danny said lazily as turning to sleep again, but Jazz was particularly insistent that morning.

"Danny, this is important! Hurry up!"

Danny groaned and followed her anxious sister downstairs; what he saw on screen fully awaked him.

"According to authorities," the anchorwoman said, "a fortune in jewelry was dropped this morning at the City Hall, along with a note stating it is an anonymous donation to help repair all the damage caused by ghostly attacks. This is particularly well greeted because of last Friday's extensive and expensive property damage produced during famous specter Danny Phantom's fight against the mysterious female ghost that attacked our city. The anonymous letter also states part of the money must be destined to people who had been directly affected by spectral battles in the past. We interviewed one of the benefited citizens, Mister Damon Gray."

"These are very good news." Valerie's father said on screen, "I lost my job and my house because of a ghostly break-in at Axion Labs several months ago, and my daughter and I had been on economical troubles since then; now, we might be able to move back to our old neighborhood, and have a slightly more relaxed situation. I want to publicly thank the anonymous donator, whoever he or she is."

At that moment, the phone at Fentons' place started ringing, and Danny picked it up.

"Hello?"

"_**Danny? It's me, Valerie! Did you hear the news?"**_

"Just a moment ago; I'm very happy for you and your dad."

"_**Thanks! Anyway, I also called you for two things… first, Star told me you got sucked inside that mirror dimension… and well, I know you weren't at Paulina's, and I was near that place, and didn't see you, so…"**_

"How could I be sucked then, uh?" Danny chuckled nervously as scratching the back of his head. "Well… my whole family was there, and guess I got too close to those mirrors for my own good."

There was silence the other side of the line as Danny and Jazz got expecting looks. They hoped that, since Valerie was groggy for a while after receiving Empress' attack, she would assume Danny got caught when she wasn't at her top and therefore couldn't notice.

"**_Well, I'm glad you are fine." _**Danny and Jazz got relieved expressions at the gentle and obviously caring tone. **_"The second thing I want to tell you is that, even if Dad and I solve our money problems, I'm not going back to being the jerk that ignored and insulted you; I want us to remain friends."_**

"You can count with that." Danny chuckled, "So, what about I call Tucker and Sam, and all of us have lunch together to celebrate your newly regained economic stability? God, it seems I heard too much of 'Smart Kwan' talking!"

Valerie laughed the other side of the line, and agreed with Danny's idea; after saying good-bye to each other, Danny hung off, and looked at Jazz, who was still looking at the screen. The boy was sure she and him were thinking the same.

"Who is the anonymous benefactor?"

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Phantasm groaned in pain, finally waking up and realizing he was back on his prison clothing. The specter shook his head and slowly stood up; he was still weak because of the Peeler's effects, as his still skeletal form proved, and it would take a while for him to be fully functional again.

"Good morning, Captain." The ghost turned to see a grinning Walker inside his cell.

"So, the ghost kid brought me back here, uh?" Captain got a sly smile that wasn't unnoticed by the warden.

"Yes, he did… you know, this escape cost me a lot of concessions, and a good amount of my liberty to dictate and execute law, but everything's worth the effort if I can keep you from escaping again." Walker said as turning, heading out of the cell, "And that ghost boy proved he can be useful at times; among other things, he suggested me a way to keep you in here for the rest of your sentence (that got another two thousand years added, by the way), and I like it. See you later, Prisoner X-12."

At that moment, Phantasm realized his cell had no gate; he approached for a better look, and noticed there was no invisible wall, shield, field, or anything to keep him inside.

"What's the big deal about this cell? I can simply walk out of here and…" Captain stopped talking, and froze at the spot.

Last time he thought escaping was the easiest thing in the world a bunch of guards surprised him and turned him into a ghost.

"What if Walker has some sort of surprise waiting for me outside the cell?" The specter thought out loud, and moved to the back of the cell, sitting at one chair, and stared at the outside.

It was just too easy to escape.

Extremely easy.

Too good to be truth.

And too tempting to ignore.

Freedom was just a few feet away.

Or maybe, whatever happened to a ghost when 'dying' a second time.

Captain Phantasm had to meditate and weigh his options before even thinking about escaping this cell.

The only place he couldn't escape was the one letting him do it.

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"Explain me again why I'm the one carrying the treasure out of there."

"It's simple, nerd-o; Fuzzy here opens the portal and I keep it open, but he must stay with me in case the portal disappears even with my musical help, so you're the only one who can get in." Ember stopped playing her guitar, allowing the portal Wulf made at her lair to disappear, while the werewolf helped Poindexter with the jewels he brought from the mirror dimension.

"And why are we taking just the jewels and not the coins as well?" Sydney asked Ember while sitting down to rest.

"Jewels. Cause. Enough. Questions. Hard. Explaining. Ancient. Money." Wulf explained; ghosts used regular human currency and valuable objects to buy and sell things to each other (Vlad paid Skulker's occasional services this way, and the hunter paid Technus as well to improve his arsenal), and, if anyone could recognize the ancient coins as part of Empress' treasure, Wulf and Ember would become a target for several greedy ghosts hoping to explode their talents and get all of it.

"Good point… hey, maybe we can expend the money at Dora's realm; almost everything in there is ancient, and the coins wouldn't be so strange."

"Hey, good idea, nerd-o; it would work well!" Ember commented while taking a second look at the day's loot. "Who could have imagined that being on the dipstick's side could be this profitable?"

"The same that could have imagined you giving a large amount of this treasure to a bunch of humans who need it the most." Sydney pointed, making Wulf to smile warmly at Ember and the girl to chuckle slightly.

"What can I say? Dating a do-gooder and befriending another one is getting under my ghostly skin, plus I owed one to the dipstick, I mean, thanks to him I no longer have to fear Walker taking Fuzzy away from me, or me getting caged for hiding a fugitive. Besides, I can't say 'No' at any chance to get an ancient ghost pissed; if some day that Empress can get a look at her dimension, and notice her treasure is gone, she might die again!"

Sydney and Wulf shared a good laugh with Ember. After a few minutes, the nerdy ghost picked up his part of the loot while Ember played the melody that changed Wulf into his human form. Poindexter waved bye to the couple, and, before leaving the lair, turned back for a last question.

"So, how are you guys going to celebrate Wulf is free to go anywhere?"

Ember and Wulf grinned at each other, and Ember replied her nerdy associate while Wulf slowly passed an arm over her shoulder.

"With a week of not going anywhere."

**THE END.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Maybe the ending was a little bit too suggestive, don't you think, Tuck? (Yes, but, hey, it's Ember we are talking about, and even as an ally, she is her best when being naughty.) Good point.

Thanks a lot to all the reviewers. As promised, there's a second disclaimer here. (Sure thing; some of the fugitive ghosts are named and based on villains from _'Scooby Doo'_, especially the ones from the second live-action movie _'Monsters Unleashed'_, namely The Pterodactyl Ghost and The 10,000-Volts Ghost; also, some of the other 'X' prisoners that were briefly mentioned are based on ghosts from Scooby's cartoons; of course, Ramiro doesn't own any of them). By the way, using Scooby-villains came from a Nigtw2's suggestion. (Thanks a lot, man!)

We are making a pause here for a fast note. When I was working on the first chapters, ironically, this story became an homage one. (You're right; Iwao Takamoto, one of Hanna-Barbera studios' best animators ever, and Scooby's creator, joined his bosses on January 9.) Yeah; so, the ghosts we already mentioned, and the references to Scooby Doo made on the story, are a little homage to another great animator who created a loved and well-known character.

Going back to the disclaimer, Captain Phantasm, as said at the beginning of the story, is based on a real-life Mexican bandit, "El Capitán Fantasma", who became famous because of his habit of disguising as a cop and the several times he escaped imprisonment. (There's a semi-biographic movie about him; the title is literally translated as "Captain Phantasm's Seven Break-Outs", filmed in Mexico in 1989, being another reference for this ghost's background.) And, as another reference, the name I gave him in this fic, Sergio Goyri, is actually the name of the actor that played the bandit on said film; obviously, I don't own the movie, the character, or the actor.

Guess that's all. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. (And thank you for giving me more participative roles!) You're welcome, Tucker.

Keep the good writing.


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